Comparative phytochemical investigations and nitric oxide free radical scavenging activity of selected medicinal plants

Globally, several medicinal plants used for treatment of various diseases.In the present, study few medicinal plants have been selected such as stem bark of Ficus religiosa L., stem of Tinospora cordifolia Miers, leaves of Moringa oleifera Lamk and roots of Boerhavia diffusa L. and all these plant materials are subjected for qualitative phytochemical investigations, quantitative phytochemical investigations, and nitrous oxide free radical scavenging activity.The powdered plant materials of selected plants were extracted with ethanol and distilled water mixture (70:30) by using Soxhlet apparatus; all the hydroalcoholic extracts showed presence of phytochemicals like glycosides, alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, tannins, phenols, phytosterols and saponins.Total phenolic, total alkaloid, and total flavonoid contents were estimated for quantitative phytochemical investigations.Highest quantity of total alkaloid was found in hydroalcoholic extract of roots of B. diffusa (4.24 ± 0.002).Maximum amount of total phenolics content (2.16 ± 0.03) and total flavonoid content (9.91 ± 0.021) were found in hydroalcoholic extract of T. cordifolia stem.Nitric oxide free radical scavenging assay was performed for all hydroalcoholic extracts and compared with reference catechin.Maximum % NO inhibition was found with reference standard catechin (96.3 ± 0.005), followed by the hydroalcoholic extract of T. cordifolia (75.8 ± 0.004).IC 50 value was found minimum for catechin (13.11 µg/ml) and in all extracts T. cordifolia hydroalcoholic extract has minimum IC 50 value (45.05 µg/ml).