A Comparative Study on Phytochemical Investigation and Antioxidant Activity of Poly Herbal Mixture of Ocimum canum and Pongamia pinnata Hydro-Alcoholic Leaf Extracts

Free radicals are implicated for many diseases including diabetes mellitus, arthritis, cancer, aging, etc. In the treatment of these diseases, antioxidant therapy has gained utmost importance. Reactive oxygen Species (ROS) is a metabolic side product of oxidative stress process which causes several diseases like atherosclerosis, cancer, etc. In defense of ROS, anti-oxidants play a key role in combatting them. As the process of aging increases the level of anti-oxidant in our body decreases and thereby needs utmost attention for its repair process which is generally administered externally. Many herbal remedies individually or in combination have been recommended in various medical expositions for the cure of different diseases. Plant products serve a best source for controlling these activities by its own metabolic pathway. Currently there has been an increased interest globally to identify antioxidant compound that are pharmacologically potent and have low or no side effects. As plants are source of natural antioxidants, much attention has been gain to plants. The quest for natural antioxidants for dietary, cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses has become a major industrial and scientific research challenges over the last two decades. A variety of free radical scavenging antioxidants exists within the body in which many of them are derived from dietary sources like fruits, vegetables and teas. Thus in this aspect three plants namely Pongamia pinnata (Karanj) and Ocimum canum (KalaTulsi) were taken up for the study. Both the plants have been recognized in different system of traditional medicines for the treatment of different diseases and ailments of human beings. In this study, Antioxidant activity of all the hydro-alcoholic extracts was determined by various antioxidant assays. In all the testing, a significant correlation existed between concentrations of the extract and percentage inhibition of free radicals. These findings suggest that the hydro-alcoholic extracts are able to scavenge free radicals, by either hydrogen or electron donating mechanisms, and can therefore act as primary antioxidants. The antioxidant property may be related to the phenols and flavonoids present in the extracts. When all three extracts were mixed together in equal proportion, in same concentration it gives synergistic effect in percentage inhibition with respect to antioxidant property.