Antioxidant Activity, Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Content of Berberis aristata DC. and Berberis thomsoniana C.K. Schneid. from Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal

Lok Ranjan Bhatt, Bina Wagle, Minu Adhikari, Santoshi Bhusal, Anjana Giri, Shandesh Bhattarai
2018 Pharmacognosy Journal  
Medicinal plants are the major sources of the crude drugs and natural antioxidants. Berberis species have been used in the treatment of various ailments around the world including Nepal. However, systematic study on phytochemistry and pharmacology of Berberis species from Nepal is lacking. Objectives: To evaluate the antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid contents of Berberis aristata and Berberis thomsoniana from Sagarmatha National Park. Materials and Methods: Antioxidant activity
more » ... was measured through 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl assay. Total phenolic and flavonoid content were estimated using Folin-Ciocalteau and aluminum chloride method respectively. Results: Samples showed dose-dependent radical scavenging activity. Radical scavenging activity of the methanolic extracts of different parts of B. aristata and B. thomsoniana ranged from 19.38 to 98.47%, with leaf extracts of B. thomsoniana showing the strongest activity. The total phenolic content of the samples varied from 11.04 to 65.30 mg GAE g -1 dry weight whereas total flavonoid content was in between 2.4 to 16.46 mg quercetin/g dry weight. Conclusion: Among the tested samples, leaf extracts of B. thomsoniana showed the strongest antioxidant activity and contained the highest amount of total phenolic and flavonoid content. ABSTRACT SUMMARY • Present study showed that leaf extract of B. thomsoniana showed promising antioxidant ability and contained higher amount of phenolics and flavonoids. Dr. Lok Ranjan Bhatt is a Senior Scientific Officer at Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. He has more than twenty years of experience in the areas of medicinal and aromatic plants, natural products and biomaterials. Currently, he has been working on nutritional composition of wild edible fruits and synthesis and characterization of herbal based polymer micro/nanospheres.
doi:10.5530/pj.2018.6s.29 fatcat:vkp64rzygbfitoax5dwmvsmlxq