FORMULATION AND IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF O/W SUNSCREEN CREAM CONTAINING HERBAL OIL AS DISPERSED PHASE

Free radical scavenging activity of O/W sunscreen cream using calendula oil was measured using DPPH method, Nitric oxide method and H2O2 assay method. For this, Flowers of calendula were collected for oil extraction. Calendula oil in concentration ranging 1-5% was used as dispersed phase in O/W sunscreen cream. The free radical scavenging activity was evaluated for equally diluted samples and the activity was found in concentration dependent manner by all three adopted methods. The sunscreen activities of cream formulations may be related to the free radical scavenging properties of flavonoid compounds in the oil phase incorporated in it. Calendula oil is one of the well-known drugs for its therapeutic potential in traditional system of medicine. In the present study, the O/W cream was screened for its free radical scavenging activity. All the formulations especially F5 showed good anti-oxidant activity. The comparisons were made with marketed formulation FS. The IC50 value by DPPH methods for diluted cream samples was 0.24±0.02 whereas by NO method, it was 0.38±0.014. When measured by H2O2 method, it was found to be 0.45 ± 0.03. All the formulations were stable and it was concluded that calendula oil sunscreen cream diluted formulation F55 is very pronounced antioxidant activity.