Research Journal Of BioTechnology
(2008)
In Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Plumbago zeylanica
Zambare Vasudeo* and Bhole Archana
P.G. Department of Biochemistry, New Arts, Commerce & Science College,
Ahmednagar 414 001, Maharashtra, India
Abstract
The total antioxidant activity, total phenolic
content and reducing power of ethanol, methanol and
water extracts of roots of plant Plumbago zeylanica,
was determined in vitro. Ethanol, methanol and water
extracts of P. zeylanica roots showed the good
antioxidant activity. However, there was no
correlation between antioxidant activity and total
phenolic content of the extracts. Although the
methanol extract of P. zeylanica had the highest total
phenolic contents, it exhibited low antioxidant activity.
In contrast, there was a strong correlation between
reducing power and total antioxidant activity of the
extracts. The highest reducing power was determined
for the methanol extract of Plumbago zeylanica.
Keywords: Plumbago zeylanica, antioxidant activity,
total phenolic, free radical scavenged
Introduction
In many human diseases, recent development
in biomedicals point to be an involvement of free
radicals. Antioxidants can prevent undesirable
oxidation processes by reacting with free radicals,
chelating free catalytic metals and also by acting as O2
scavengers. Restriction in the use of some synthetic
antioxidants is being imposed because of their
carcinogenicity1, 2. Therefore, the development and
utilization of more effective natural antioxidants are
desired. Further, the spoilage and poisoning of foods
by microorganisms are problems that have not yet
been brought under adequate control despite the range
of robust preservation techniques available. In nature,
there are a large number of different types of
antimicrobial compounds that play an important role
in the natural defense of all kinds of living organisms3.
*Present postal address: R & D Department,
Advanced Enzyme Technologies Ltd., A-62/62,
Malegaon M.I.D.C., Tal.: Sinnar; Dist.: Nasik 422113,
Maharashtra, India.
Email:vasuzambare@gmail.com
(36)
Vol. 3 (3) Aug.
Res. J. Biotech.
The challenge for today’s pharmaceutical
industry lies in the discovery and development of new,
pharmacological active molecules. Many plants were
shown biological activities. Plumbago zeylanica used
against a number of alignments including skin
diseases, diahhhoea and leprosy3. It is also used
commercially in the soap industries.
In this report, we describe the antioxidant
activity of P. zeylanica plant root extracts in vitro.
Materials and Methods
Plant material
Plumbago zeylanica root powder was
purchased from Ayurvedic Medical Shop, Pune, India.
Solvents and chemicals used for extractions and assay
were procured from Qualigen Chemicals (Mumbai)
and Sigma Chemicals (USA).
Extraction
Aqueous, methanol and ethanol extracts of
roots of P. zeylanica were prepared by Soxhlet
extraction apparatus. Dried extracts were measured for
% yields of extractions.
Antioxidant activity
Antioxidant activity, lipid peroxide
inhibition, free radical scavenged and total phenolic
content using the Folin- Coicalteu reagent were
assayed4. The results are expressed as milligrams of
gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per gram of extract.
Results and Discussion
Percentage yields of ethanol, methanol and
water extract are reported in Table 1. Antioxidant
activity, lipid peroxide inhibition, free radical
scavenged and total phenolic content of ethanol,
methanol and water extracts of roots of Plumbago
zeylanica are summarized in Table 2.
Among the all extracts of roots of Plumbago
zeylanica, ethanol extract exhibited promising
antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activities of
methanol and water extracts were lower than that of
torolox, positive control. The free radical scavenging
activity was proportional with total polyphenol of
extract and found to be high with ethanol extract.
Research Journal Of BioTechnology Vol. 3 (3) Aug. (2008)
Res. J. Biotech.

Generally, it has been previously reported In conclusion, our studies reveal that extracts
that there is a correlation between total phenolic of P. zeylanica and its active ingredient plumbagin
content and antioxidant activity of plant extracts5, 6 have significant antioxidant abilities that may possibly
explain some of the reported therapeutic effects.
Table 1 : Yields (%) of various extracts of roots of
P. zeylanica
References
Extracts Yields (%)
1. Grice H. C., Safety Evaluation of Butylated
Ethanol 0.78 Hydroxytoluene (BHT) in the Liver, Lung and Gastro
Methanol 0.64 Intestinal Tract, Food Chem. Toxicol. 24,1127, (1986).

Water 0.61 2. Wichi H. P., Enhanced Tumor Development by

Butylated Hydroxyanisol (BHA) from the Prospective
Table 2 : Antioxidant capacity of various extract of of Effect on Fore Stomach and Oesophageal
roots of P. zeylanica Squamous Epithelium, Food Chem. Toxicol. 26,717,
(1988).
Extracts TEAC LPI FRS TPP
(mM) (%) (%) (mg/g dry 3. Beg A. Z., Ahmad I., Effect of Plumbago zeylanica
extract) Extract and Certain Curing Agents on Multidrug-
Ethanol 5.55 75.80 63.15 44.28 Resistant Bacteria of Clinical Origin, World J.
Methanol 3.25 60.17 18.42 32.86 Microbiol. Biotechnol. 16,841, (2000).

Water 0.95 61.52 29.38 37.16
Trolox 63.54
TEAC- Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity; LIP- lipid peroxide
inhibition; FRS- free radical scavenged; TPP- total polyphenol
However, our results did not show any
correlation between antioxidant activities and total
phenolic contents. These results suggest that the
antioxidant activity of tested extracts might be
attributed to the presence of non-phenolic compounds
that have antagonistic or synergistic interactions
between phenolics and other compounds like
carbohydrates, proteins or other bimolecules etc. Also
antioxidant effects of the aqueous/alcoholic extracts of
root, corresponding to medicinal preparations, and the
active ingredient, plumbagin was reported by Tilak et
al.7.
4. Behara B.C., Varma N., Sonone A., Makhija U.V.,
Antioxidants and Antibacterial Activities of Lichen
Usnea ghattensis In Vitro, Biotechnol. Lett. 27,991,
(2005).
5. Hidalgo M. E., Fernandez E., Quilhot W., Lissi E.,
Antioxidant activity of depsides and depsidones,
Phytochem., 37,1585, (1994).
6. Jain A., Jain A., Jain S., Rout S.P., Lokesh D., Parial
S.D., In Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Plumbago
zeylanica, Nat. Prod. Ind. J., 2,1 (2006).
7. Tilak J. C., Adhikari S., Devasagayam T. P.,
Antioxidant properties of Plumbago zeylanica, an
Indian Medicinal Plant and its Active Ingredient,
Plumbagin, Redox Rep. 9:219, (2004).

(37)