Abstract

PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS AERIAL EXTRACT OF MENTHA ARVENSIS LINN FROM KASHMIR

Abstract

Preliminary phytochemical screening by standard methods showed presence of various phytoconstituents in aqueous aerial extract of Mentha arvensis Linn. Antioxidant activity of aqueous aerial extract of Mentha arvensis Linn were evaluated by different assays. The extract was containing 21.01 mg/g total phenolic and 44.12 mg/g of total flavonoid content. The percentage inhibition of DPPH and Nitrous oxide scavenging was found to be 42.97% and 57.7% at concentration of 500 μg/mL respectively. The percentage inhibition of H2O2 scavenging was 25.31% at concentration of 1000 μg/mL. At concentration of 500 μg/mL, the percentage inhibition of metal chelating activity was 61.99%. The reducing power of extract was found to be 0.12 at 100 μg/mL and increased to 0.99 at 500 μg/mL. The results indicate that aqueous extract from aerial parts of Mentha arvensis L has moderate antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Mentha arvensis; DPPH; reducing power; nitrous oxide; metal chelating; H2O2.