Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Heracleum nepalense D Don root

Suvakanta . Dash¹ , Lila Kanta Nath¹, Satish . Bhise², Nihar . Bhuyan¹

¹Himalayan Pharmacy Institute, Majhitar, Rangpo, East Sikkim-737132, India.; ²Govt College of Pharmacy,Vidyanagar, Satara, Karad- 415124, India..

For correspondence:- Suvakanta Dash Email: sdash777@sify.com

Published: 21 June 2005

Citation: Dash S., Nath LK, Bhise S., Bhuyan N.. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Heracleum nepalense D Don root. Trop J Pharm Res 2005; 4(1):341-347 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v4i1.3

© 2005 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of the methanol extract of Heracleum nepalense D.Don roots.
Method: The antimicrobial effect was determined by agar dilution and disc diffusion method. The free radical scavenging potential was studied by using different antioxidants models of screening using vitamin E (5mM) as standard.
Results: The crude methanol extract of H.nepalense root was found to be active against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. The ethyl acetate soluble fraction of the extract showed similar activity against these organisms. Similarly, the methanol extract at 1000 µg. ml-1 and the ethyl acetate fraction at 50 µg. ml-1 exhibited significant antioxidant activity in ferrous sulphate induced lipid peroxidation, 1,1- diphenyl- 2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), Hydroxyl radical and Superoxide scavenging models.
Conclusions: The study confirms the possible antioxidant and antimicrobial potentiality of the plant extract. Presence of flavonoid alone or in combination with its other components could be responsible for the activity.

Keywords: Heracleum nepalense, Lipid peroxidation, Superoxide scavenging, DPPH assay, Antimicrobial effect, Flavonoid.