Evaluation of antioxidant activity, untargeted metabolite profile and elemental analysis of Euphorbia hirta L

Abstract

Antioxidant is a new hype in naturopathy and at present it has huge demand in cosmetic, nutritional supplementation and pharmacological industry. It reduces cell damages caused by free-radical which are responsible for various ailments like ageing, cancer, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, cataracts and inflammation. Therefore, antioxidant activity of a popular medicinal plant Euphorbia hirta was determined. Different parts viz. leaves, roots, stems of Euphorbia hirta were successively extracted with n-hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and water by Soxhlet apparatus. All the extracts were studied for total phenol content using folin-ciocalteu reagent and 2,2 diphenyl 1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging capacity was determined. Metabolites profile were identified in methanolic and water extracts of all the parts of plant by Q-TOF LC/MS. Different elements were studied in all the parts of plant by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).The results of study showed that methanolic extract of leaves had more amount of total phenol content (360 mg/g of extract). Methanolic extract of leaves was found to be good antioxidant activity (IC50 value-26 µg/ml). Heavy metals were not found in any extracts of parts of plant. Therefore, study was suggested that Euphorbia hirta leaves, roots and stems has a huge potential in terms of commercial use as source of antioxidant.