Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers

Abstract

Objective: To explore the free radical scavenging activity and total phenolic content of Tinospora cordifolia bark extracts and their relation.Methods: Extraction of T. cordifolia bark was carried out in ethanol and methanol solvents. Free radical scavenging activity was performed by DPPH assay. Total phenolic content was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. The correlation was observed between antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of the extracts. Results: In the free radical scavenging assay, the ethanolic bark extract showed the highest free radical scavenging activity (71.49%). The antioxidant activity of methanolic extract was poor when compared to the ethanolic extract. Ethanolic bark extract had the highest phenolic content of 84.62 ± 0.12 mg/g. Conclusion: These results suggest that bark has better antioxidant activity and also better extracted with ethanol and the antioxidant activity (r = 0.99) was positively correlated with the total phenolic content (r = 0.98). These results suggest that ethanolic extract of T. cordifolia had potent antioxidant activity and could be explored as a novel natural antioxidant.