A Comparative Study of In Vitro Antioxidant Potential, Photoprotective Screening of Ehretia acuminata R.Br. Leaves

To evaluate the comparability of some of the most common radical scavenging assays using 2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, Ferric reducing power assay (FRAP) & nitric oxide. leaves of traditionally important medicinal plant Ehretia acuminata, used in Chinese herbal medicine were identified & analyzed for their antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and flavonoid content & sun protective factor (SPF). In this study different organic solvents, petroleum ether 40-600 C (PE), chloroform (CH), ethyl acetate (EA), ethanol 99.9% (EOL) & water (AQ) were used for soxhlet exraction of E. acuminata leaves. Among them, ethyl acetate extract exhibited strongest antioxidant activity with IC50 between 99 to 250 μg/ml. Ascorbic acid (AA) used as a standard antioxidant exhibited IC50 25µg/ml. Petroleum ether showed weak free radical scavenging activity with IC50 value between 500 to 770 µg/ml. The ability of protection against UV-B region followed the trend EOL> EA> PE> AQ> CH extract. The result reveals that these natural antioxidant potential of E. acuminata represents a side effect-free alternative to synthetic antioxidants in the food processing industry, in sunscreen formulations and for use in preventive synthetic drugs