Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant and DNA nicking protection assay of some selected medicinal plants
Falak Bamne, Nikhat Shaikh, Munira Momin, Tabassum Khan, Ahmad Ali
Abstract
The abundance of metabolites from plants exhibits diverse chemical structures and potentially possess a variety of effects like therapeutic values which have been documented in many traditional systems of medicines.The formulations in the Unani medicine systems are based on these health benefits of the plants for the treatment of diseases.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a worldwide illness that is chronic and incapacitating.This study was planned with the objective to examine the phytochemical components of some selected plants' aqueous extracts used in the Unani system of medicine to treat osteoarthritis.These plants include Aloe barbadensis, Chrysanthemum indicum, Commiphora mukul, Convolvulus scammonia, Ipomoea turpethum, and Merendera persica.Established methods like Bradford, DNSA, Folin Ciocalteau's and Aluminum chloride were employed to assess the protein, reducing sugar, total phenolic, and flavonoid content present in the aqueous extracts of the above-mentioned plants, respectively.The antioxidant activities of the aqueous extracts were determined using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate), nitric oxide assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power assays.The aqueous extract of most of the plants demonstrated considerable antioxidant activity, with M. persica showing highest radical scavenging activity.However, there was a good correlation between the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity for the A. barbadensis.The DNA nicking prevention studies indicate the better potential of M. persica, A. barbadensis and C. scammonia among the plants tested.These results indicate the potential health benefit especially prevention of oxidative stress which is implicated in many disease conditions like diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis, etc.