HPTLC FINGERPRINTING AND IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT STUDIES OF ARGYREIA SPECIOSA SWEET LEAVES AND MESUA FERREA LINN. FLOWERS

Natural antioxidants present in plants have attracted interest because of their safety and potential nutritional and therapeutic effects. The plant kingdom offers a wide range of natural antioxidants. The HPTLC fingerprinting was done for methanolic extracts of Argyreia speciosa leaves and Mesua ferrea flowers. The solvent system developed were Chloloroform: Methanol:Ethyl acetate:: 9:1.1:0.5 and Chloloroform: Methanol:: 9:1 for Argyreia speciosa and Mesua ferrea respectively. For Argyreia speciosa the prominent Rf and area % obtained were 0.79 and 42.51 at 200 nm; 0.87 and 25.63 at 250 nm; 0.88 and 16.33 at 300 nm; 0.85 and 11.53 at 350 nm; 0.12 and 11.93 at 400 nm; 0.12 and 12.62 at 450 nm and for Mesua ferrea the prominent Rf and area % obtained were 0.89 and 20.73 at 200 nm; 0.89 and 15.70 at 240 nm; 0.78 and 15.98, 0.90 and 12.58 at 280 nm; 0.15 and 10.68, 0.30 and 22.37 at 320 nm; 0.29 and 20.49 at 400 nm. The Total antioxidant capacity of Argyreia speciosa was found to be 108.33 ± 1.59 and of Mesua ferrea was 91.67 ± 2.16. The percentage Inhibition (IC50) of Argyreia speciosa was 168.46 ± 1.03 µg /ml and of Mesua ferrea was 300.01 ± 1.59 µg / ml in DPPH free radical scavenging activity. In scavenging of superoxide radical by alkaline DMSO method IC50 of Argyreia speciosa was 148.63 µg / ml and of Mesua ferrea was 273.56 µg / ml. In scavenging of hydrogen peroxide method IC50 of Argyreia speciosa and Mesua ferrea were 30.47 µg / ml and 21.70 µg / ml respectively