Abstract

Anthocephalus cadamba (Roxb.) Miq. (Rubiaceae), an Ayurvedic medicinal plant is ethnomedicinally widely used in the treatment of fever, anaemia, uterine complaints, blood diseases, skin diseases, leprosy, dysentery, and for improvement of semen quality. The present work was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of methanol extract from the bark of A. cadamba. The Antioxidant activity was determined by in vitro assays viz. DPPH radical scavenging assay, ABTS radical cation decolorization assay and reducing power assay. The extract was evaluated for DNA protection activity in DNA protection assay using pBR322 plasmid DNA. The various antioxidant activities were compared to standard antioxidants such as butylated hydroxytoluene and ascorbic acid. The extract showed potent antioxidant activity in all the assays. The percentage inhibition of DPPH radical was 77.97±0.301% and for ABTS it was found to be 91.70±0.40% at a concentration of 200 mg/ml. The reducing power was observed to be 59.47±0.801% at the highest tested dose of 1000 mg/ml. The extract also showed good genoprotective potential comparable to gallic acid. In addition to the antioxidant activity of the extract, the total phenolic content and total flovonoid content were also measured.

Key words: Anthocephalus cadamba, antioxidant activity, DPPH assay, ABTS assay, plasmid DNA protection assay, reducing power assay.