Evaluation of In-vitro radical scavenging activity and polyphenolic content in the leaves of indigenous plant Alternanthera sessilis (L.)R.Br.Ex DC

¹Lalitha Sree T^*, ²Vijayalakshmi K
¹Research Scholar, Department of Biochemistry, Bharathi Women’s College, Chennai-600 108.
²Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Bharathi Women’s College,   Chennai – 600 108.

A B S T R A C T
Plants are considered to be the elixir of life, as it has the power to cure all ills of life. The objective of the present study is to investigate the free radical scavenging activity of ethyl acetate, ethanol and aqueous extracts of Alternanthera sessilis leaves. The extracts were subjected to quantitative analysis of phenols, flavonoids and tannins. The antioxidant capacity of the plant extracts were studied by the methods such as 1,1- diphenyl- 2- picryl-hydrazil (DPPH) free radical scavenging, Hydrogen peroxide scavenging, Nitric oxide radical inhibition assay, Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay, Superoxide anion radical scavenging,  and Hydroxyl radical scavenging assay. Among the three extracts, ethanolic extract of the leaves of Alternanthera sessilis contains high amount of polyphenolic content  and exhibited significant antioxidant activity. The free radical scavenging activity was compared with the positive control ascorbic acid. The results of the study indicates that the ethanolic extract of the indigenous plant Alternanthera sessilis was found to be a potent scavenger of DPPH, NO, H₂O_2, Hydroxyl, Super oxide anion and FRAP activity.
Keywords: Alternanthera, Polyphenols, DPPH, FRAP, Ascorbic acid.