Kamal Saroha

Antioxidant and free radical scavenging potential of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. methanolic fruit extract.

Antioxidant and free radical scavenging potential of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. methanolic fruit extract Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. (Cucurbitaceae) is a medicinal plant traditionally used as an abortifacient and to treat constipation, oedema, bacterial infections, cancer and diabetes. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the plant showed the presence of large amounts of phenolics and flavonoids. Subsequent quantification showed the presence of 0.74% (m/m) phenolics (calculated as gallic acid) and 0.13% (m/m) flavonoids calculated as catechin equivalents per 100 g of fresh mass. The presence of phenolic compounds prompted us to evaluate its antioxidant activity. In the present study, methanolic fruit extract of C. colocynthis was screened to evaluate its freeradical scavenging effect. The highest antioxidant and free radical scavenging ability of the fruit extract was observed at a concentration of 2500 μg mL-1. Antioksidativni potencijal i sposobnost hvatanja slobodnih radikala metanolnog ekstrakta plodova Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. (Cucurbitaceae) je ljekovita biljka koja se tradicionalno upotrebljava kao abortiv i za liječenje konstipacije, edema, bakterijskih infekcija, karcinoma i dijabetesa. Preliminarno fitokemijsko pretraživanje ukazalo je na prisutnost velikih količina fenola i flavonoida. Udio fenola bio je 0,74% (preračunato na galnu kiselinu), a flavonoida 0,13% preračunato na ekvivalente katehina na 100 g svježe mase. Zbog prisutnosti fenolnih spojeva ispitivano je antioksidativno djelovanje i sposobnost hvatanja slobodnih radikala metanolnog ekstrakta plodova. Koncentracija 2500 μg mL-1 imala je najjači učinak.