Free radical scavenging activity of Smilax wightii a. DC. (Smilacaceae), an endemic medicinal plant from Western Ghats.

Abstract

The present study was aimed to evaluate the free radical scavenging activity of methanol extract of Smilax wightii by using DPPH, Nitric oxide and ABTS radical scavenging assays. The extract had scavenging activities on DPPH radical in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 31.68 µg/ml. The extract showed its highest nitric oxide radical scavenging activity 95.16% in 50 µg/ ml. A steady increase in the percentage inhibition of the ABTS radicals by extract was observed in 872.52±0.08 trolox equivalence in μMol/g extract at the dose of 50 μg/ml. The results suggest that the methanol extract of S. wightii has very strong antioxidant activities and could be used as effective natural antioxidant resources.