Antioxidant potential of Rumex vesicarius L.: in vitro approach.

OBJECTIVE: To assess in-vitro antioxidant activity of different fraction and perform high performance thin layer chromatography fingerprint analysis of most active fraction of Rumex vesicarius L. (R. vesicarius).

METHODS: In the present study, acetone, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and methanol extracts of R. vesicarius were evaluated for radical scavenging activity by studying the inhibition of the level of lipid peroxidation induced by Fe(++)/ascorbate, DNA sugar damage, scavenging of hydrogen peroxide, diphenylphosphine DPPH radical scavenging activity, total phenolic content, total flavonoids content and total proanthocyanidin. High performance thin layer chromatography finger print profiling of R. vesicarius L. was also done.

RESULTS: Lipid peroxidation induced by the iron/ascorbate system, hydrogen peroxide, diphenylphosphine and DNA sugar damage were inhibited by the addition of different extract of R. vesicarius. Among them, methanolic extract showed maximum efficacy. The methanolic extract showed the highest total phenolic, total flavonoids and total proanthocyanidin contents.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the extracts can be a vital source of phytochemical antioxidants.