Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Activities of Various Stem Extracts of Bacopa monnieri Linn.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the phytochemical composition and antioxidant potential of Bacopa monnieri stem. The intensity of DPPH radical scavenging in the petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and aqueous extracts were determined. Since, methanol and aqueous extracts have shown the lower IC50 values i.e., 49μg/ml and 5 μg/ml, these two extracts were selected for further antioxidant studies and quantified for total phenols and flavonoids. In comparision with the methanol extract, aqueous extract has shown higher antioxidant activities and also shown the elevated levels of phenolics (81.01 mg GAE/g extract) and flavanoids (79.98 mg QE/g extract). Hence the aqueous extract was finally selected for anti-lipid peroxidation assay. The free radical scavenging and antioxidant properties of the extracts may be due to the presence of polyphenols in the extracts. In order to identify the polyphenols and functional groups present in the extracts HPTLC (High Performance Thin layer Liquid Chromatography) analysis and FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra Red) analysis had been performed. The results of HPTLC had shown the presence of three polyphenols and FTIR analysis identified -OH group of phenolic compounds in the aqueous extract. The results of the present study reveals the presence of polyphenols in the aqueous extract which may be responsible for the antioxidant activities of the B.monnieri stem. Further aqueous extract can be purified to obtain a novel drug for free radical mediated diseases.