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

The objective of the present study was to estimate the total phenolic content as well as flavonoids in Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-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 0.1045 and 0.1041%w/w gallic acid equivalent in Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-M respectively. Total flavonoid content was determined by aluminium chloride method and was found 0.01264 and 0.01214%w/w quercetin equivalent in Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-M respectively. Super-oxide anion scavenging activity and lipid per-oxidation assay were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-M. The antioxidant activity of Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-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. Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-M showed significant scavenging of super-oxide radical and showed IC₅₀ 120.63 and 128.36 μg/ml respectively. Drakshasava-T and Drakshasava-M also inhibited the ferrous sulphate induced lipid per-oxidation in dose dependent manner and showed inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) 212.50 and 220.15 μg/ml respectively. Marketed Drakshasava 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 Drakshasava-T and Drakshasva-M can be a promising source of natural antioxidant.