Total Phenolics and Flavonoids and Antioxidant Potential of Draksharishta Prepared by Traditional and Modern Methods

The objective of the present study was to estimate the total phenolic content as well as flavonoids in Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M prepared by traditional and modern methods respectively and in its marketed preparation and also to evaluate the antioxidant activity of these test preparations on two different in vitro antioxidant activity models. Total phenolic content was determined colorimetrically using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and was found 0.0967 and 0.0961 %w/w gallic acid equivalent in Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M respectively. Total flavonoid content was determined by aluminium chloride method and was found 0.01163 and 0.01129 %w/w quercetin equivalent in Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M respectively. Super-oxide anion scavenging activity and lipid per-oxidation assay were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M. The antioxidant activity of Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M was found increased in concentration dependent manner in both the in vitro antioxidant activity models as super-oxide radical scavenging activity and lipid per-oxidation assay. Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M showed significant scavenging of super-oxide radical and showed IC₅₀ 138.06 and 145.35 μg/ml respectively. Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M also inhibited the ferrous sulphate induced lipid peroxidation in dose dependent manner and showed inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) 230.03 and 236.11 μg/ml respectively. Marketed Draksharishta also showed a rich concentration of total phenolics and flavonoids and showed dose dependent antioxidant activity in both the models. Thus, the results obtained in this study indicate that Draksharishta-T and Draksharishta-M can be a promising source of natural antioxidant.