QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF SECONDARY METABOLITES AND ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF CASSIA SOPHERA LINN LEAF EXTRACTS

Abstract

Cassia sophera Linn (C. sophera) is a medicinally important plant belonging to the family of Caesalpiniaceae. The whole part of the plant is used as traditional folk medicine and is reported to possess analgesic, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, hepatoprotective and antiasthmatic activity. The objective of this study was to screen the phytochemicals, estimate the content of alkaloids, phenolic and flavonoids compounds and determine the antioxidant capacity of the C. sophera leaves. Qualitative analysis of various phytochemical constituents and quantitative analysis of total alkaloids, phenol and flavonoids were determined by the well-known test protocol available in the literature. The ethanolic extract of leaves of C. sophera was studied for antioxidant activity on different in vitro models namely 1,1-diphenyl, 2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) assay, Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and Nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging method. Phytochemical analysis of ethanol and aqueous extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, phenolics, proteins and amino acids, carbohydrate, diterpenes. The total alkaloids, phenolic and flavonoids content of C. sophera leaves of ethanolic extract were 0.439, 0.864, and 1.014/100mg respectively. Ascorbic acid used as standards was also evaluated for comparison. The extract showed dose dependent free radical scavenging property in the tested models. C. sophera leaves extract showed IC50 value 78.10μg/ml for DPPH method, which was comparable to that of ascorbic acid (IC50=17.68μg/ml). For hydrogen peroxide method, IC50 value was found to be 73.17μg/ml, which compares favourable with ascorbic acid (IC50=36.613μg/ml). In nitric oxide model, IC50 value was found to be 92.29μg/ml, which was comparable to that of ascorbic acid (IC50=24.63μg/ml). The present study describes the phytochemical profile and antioxidant activity of C. sophera which can be further used for medicinal applications.