Determination of total antioxidant activity of Malaxis rheedii Sw (Orchidaceae)

Abstract

Malaxis genus is distributed throughout the world. Malaxis rheedii sw is a rare, terrestrial, endangered and medicinal orchid. In the study, investigated antioxidant activities of different solvent extract from the M. rheedei whole plant part. The whole plant extract of M. rheedei were screened for various antioxidant assays viz., DPPH, ABTS•+ and ferrous ion chelating assay. Higher levels of chelating ability for ferrous ions was observed in the crude methanol and ethyl acetate extract of M. rheedei. Petroleum ether extract also exhibited maximum antioxidant activity in DPPH activity and ABTS•+ activity. The results suggest that M. rheedei has promising antioxidant activity and could serve as potential source of natural antioxidants.