Abstract

PHYT OCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTRERIALEFFICACY OF MOMACARDIACHARANTIA SEED EXTRACT: AN INVITRO APPROACH

Dr. B. Deepa*

Abstract

The plants have been a major source of phytomedicines for human healthcare and it is prudent to analyse various phytoconstituents present in them. Momordica charantia L.a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It has been used in folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and its fruit has been used as a vegetable for thousands of years. In the present study, methanolic extract of M. charantia seed (MCE) were screened for their phytochemical constituents, antioxidant potential and antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial activities of the extract was determined against gram positive bacteria and gram negative bacteria disc diffusion method. The MCE was the most active against the tested microorganisms in the study with higher inhibition zones and lower minimal bactericidal activities (MBC). Antioxidant capacity of the extract was investigated by different assays, namely, total antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay), reducing power, hydroxy radical scavenging, activity(HRSA),metal chelating and superoxide anion scavenging activity. The total phenolic content, flavonoid, saponins and saponin were found to be 1.49 mg GAE/g, 1.45GAE/g, 0.62 mg/g respectively. MCE effectively scavenge the free radicals (DPPH, HRSA and phosphomolybdenum), chelate metal ions and possess superoxide anion radical scavenging activity. These findings indicate the potential use of seed extract as biopreservatives as they demonstrated high antimicrobial and antioxidant activities respectively.

Keywords: M. charantia, seed, methanol extract, antioxidant potential, antimicrobial.