Abstract

EVALUATION OF POTENT ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF GINGER EXTRACT USING IN VITRO STUDY

Himayoon Rashid and G. Umamaheswari*

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has been used since time immemorial for treating different ailments and as dietary condiment. This rhizome has shown potent anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity. In the current study we evaluated the potent antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of ginger using distinct techniques like DPPH [1,1-diphenyl-2- picryl hydrazyl] assay and nitric oxide scavenging assay. This dietary condiment showed substantial antioxidant activity as determined by the above mentioned assays. While an IC50 of 27.85 was seen for ginger in DPPH assay, IC50 of 59.79μg/ml was obtained for ginger extract in nitric oxide scavenging assay. These findings established that ginger has strong antioxidant activity and may be used as a remedy to treat disorders associated with oxidative stress including cancer and neurodegeneration.

Keywords: Phytochemicals, Ginger, DPPH, Thin layer chromatography, NOS) activity.