Comparison of Phytochemical Extraction Solvents for Andrographis paniculata

Andrographis paniculata is a medicinal plant known to possess many health benefits like antioxidant, antibacterial, antitumor, antidiabetic, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities. In spite of all known beneficial effects, there is no standardized protocol for extraction of bioactive components from this plant. In the present study we compare the different extraction solvents (acetone, chloroform, distilled water, ethyl acetate, hexane and methanol) for their efficiency in extracting Andrographis Paniculata plant bioactive components and to evaluate the plant regeneration protocol under laboratory controlled conditions using different hormone combinations. Our results shows that chloroform extract shows the maximum phenol concentration (10.6±0.3 mg of Gallic acid equivalent/100 g of extract) and maximum antioxidant activity (47.75±0.008 percent inhibition), however lack in the extraction of saponins and tannins. Using hexane as an extraction solvent results in the maximum extraction of flavonoids with 9.2±0.4 mg of quercetin equivalent/100 g of extract but reduced phenol concentration (0.8±0.01 mg of Gallic acid equivalent/100 g of extract) and antioxidant activity (13.1±0.01% inhibition). To best of our knowledge this is the first report which directly compares the phytochemical extraction solvents for Andrographis paniculata and shows that different solvents are having different phytochemical extraction potential for this plant.