Bioactive compounds in food have been shown to maintain human health. Therefore the aim of this investigation was to evaluate antioxidant potential of an edible herb Mazus pumilus (Burm. f.) Steenis by spectrophotometric methods. Methanolic extract of the herb was obtained on Soxhlet apparatus, and sequentially fractionized with organic solvents of increasing polarity. The antioxidant potential of all these fractions was evaluated by four methods: 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity, Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and ferric thiocyanate assay along with determination of their total phenolics. The results revealed that n-butanol fraction exhibited highest percent inhibition of DPPH radical as compared to other fractions. It showed 80.42±1.68 inhibition level, % of DPPH radical at a concentration of 60 µg ml-1. The IC50 value of this fraction was 28.79±1.35 µg ml-1, relative to ascorbic acid, having IC50 58.84±0.89 µg ml-1. It also showed highest total antioxidant activity (1.01±0.08) as well as highest FRAP value (626.83±0.39 TE / µM ml-1), highest total phenolic contents (88.30±1.09 GAE / mg g-1) and highest value of inhibition of lipid peroxidation (53.91±1.21 %) as compared to the other studied fractions. The results obtained from this study suggest that Mazus pumilus is a valuable herb, which due to the presence of larger quantities of antioxidant compounds inhibits the oxidative stress mechanism that lead to degenerative diseases.
SAMMIA SHAHID, TAUHEDA RIAZ, MUHAMMAD ATHAR ABBASI, FARAH KHALID AND MUHAMMAD NADEEM ASGHAR
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