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Several species of Cryptocarya (Lauraceae) are traditionally used in folk medicines for the treatment of various diseases and disorders in tropical and subtropical countries. The essential oil extracted from the leaves and barks of Cryptocarya species are reported to possess antimicrobial, insecticidal, antioxidant, and antitumoral activities. However, there are no scientific reports on the biological activity of essential oil extracted from the tropical Asiatic species Cryptocarya amygdalina. The present study was undertaken to determine the chemical composition and evaluate the antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities of bark essential oil of C. amygdalina. A total of 57 constituents accounting for 99.05 % of the total essential oil content were identified by GC/MS. The bark essential oil was dominated by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (78.71 %) with β- caryophyllene (34.77 %), α-copaene (14.26 %), bicyclogermacrene (7.65 %), and δ-cadinene (4.42 %) as the major constituents. The essential oil exhibited good radical scavenging activity against DPPH, ABTS, and Reducing power assay with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 6.97 ± 0.24, 1.28 ± 0.07, and 9.23 ± 0.34 μg/mL, respectively compared to ascorbic acid and BHT. The Pearson's coefficient analysis showed a significant correlation between TPC, TFC, and an antioxidant assay of C. amygdalina essential oil. The essential oil also showed potent cytotoxicity against human colon (HCT-116) and ovarian (PA-1) cancer cell lines with IC50 values lesser than 50 μg/mL in both cases. Besides, this bark essential oil at 50 μg/mL concentration exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages by inhibiting nitric oxide production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Samarakhai (Byttneria herbacea Roxb.), family Sterculiaceae, is one of the reputed folklore medicinal herbs, found in many parts of India. Although consumed as a vegetable since long time, its root and leaves are not yet reported for its nutritive value and antioxidant activities. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate nutritional value and antioxidant potential of root and leaf of B. herbacea Roxb. Materials and methods: Nutritional parameters such as carbohydrate, fat, protein, energy value, calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, phosphorus and vitamin C were evaluated. Antioxidant activity was evaluated through three test methods, i.e., 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and phosphomolybdenum assay. Results: B. herbacea roots and leaves showed the presence of total carbohydrate 46.39 g/100 g and 40.12 g/100 g, total fat 0.63 g/100 g and 1.20 g/100 g, true protein 11.46 g/100 g and 10.49 g/100 g, energy content 237.07 kcal/100 g and 213.24 kcal/100 g, iron 821.10 ppm and 889.64 ppm, zinc 9.2 ppm and 47.98 ppm, manganese 329.86 ppm and 474.59 ppm, phosphorus 0.40 ppm and 0.10 ppm and calcium 4856.84 ppm and 14964.49 ppm, respectively. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration values of the methanol extract of root, leaf and ascorbic acid were found to be 217.25 μg/ml, 131.42 μg/ml and 178.88 μg/ml, respectively. In FRAP assay, antioxidant activity of methanol extract of leaf (129.15 μM) was found to be more than root (73.13 μM). Conclusion: B. herbacea root contains high amount of true protein, carbohydrate and energy value, while micronutrients such as iron, zinc, manganese and calcium are more in its leaf. Both roots and leaves exhibited potent antioxidant activity where the leaves possess more values than the roots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity needs to be “conserved through use.” Owing to the global need, the present study includes two underutilized berries, Carissa carandus and Eleagnus conferta, to explore their potential as supplementary food by evaluating their antioxidant activity and approximate chemical composition. Berries of E. conferta are a richer source of carotene, ascorbic acid, protein, and magnesium, whereas berries of C. carandus are rich in sugars, lipids, iron, and magnesium. The antioxidant properties of the berries and a comparative account on their performance using DPPH and FRAP assay was studied. Both assays revealed high activity in the peel extract of berries of C. carandus. The LC-MS/MS profile of C. carandus reveals the presence of eleven different polyphenolic compounds while E. conferta had only four of these compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Objective: To investigate the in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities along with phytochemical screening of organic and aqueous extracts of leaf and stem of Suaeda maritima (Dumort), a mangrove associate from Bhitarkanika of Odisha, India. Methods: Antioxidant activity of the crude extracts was evaluated in terms of total antioxidant capacity, total phenol content, ascorbic acid content, DPPH radical scavenging, metal chelating, nitric oxide scavenging, and reducing power etc. The antimicrobial activity of the plant was determined by agar well diffusion method along with MIC and MBC carried out by microdilution techniques against 10 gram positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. The qualitative and quantative phytochemical screening were carried out by standard biochemical assays. Results: Out of the seven antioxidant bioassays, both the leaf and stem extracts were found to posses strong antioxidant properties of 70 % to 92 % for phenol, total antioxidant capacity, DPPH free radical scavenging activity and fairly good ascorbic acid content, metal chelating (1.33 %-22.55 %), reducing power (0.01-0.12) and nitric oxide scavenging (0.84 %-66.99 %) activities. Out of the four extracts evaluated for antimicrobial activity, two leaf extracts such as acetone and ethanol showed promising activity against four pathogenic bacteria and one stem methanol extracts against one pathogenic bacteria when compared with amoxcycillin as standard. The MIC and MBC values of the antimicrobial extracts ranged between 2.5 to 5.0 mg/mL. Screening of phytochemicals showed presence of carbohydrates, protein, tannins, alkaloids and flavonoids in comparatively higher amount than other phytochemicals tested. Conclusions: The present study reveals the presence of potential antioxidants and antimicrobial properties in the plant extract which could be exploited for pharmaceutical application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The hepatoprotective effect and antioxidant role of ethanol extract of Scutia myrtina (EESM) was evaluated against paracetamol induced liver damage in rats. The degree of protection was measured by using biochemical parameters such as serum transaminase (SGPT and SGOT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, total protein and uric acid. Further, the effects of the extract on lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutathione (GSH), Vitamin C and Vitamin E, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) were estimated. The ethanol extract of Scutia myrtina (EESM) (100 and 200 mg/kg) produced significant (P < 0.05) hepatoprotective effect by decreasing the activity of serum enzymes, bilirubin, and lipid peroxidation, while it significantly increased the levels of protein, uric acid, GSH, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, SOD and CAT (P < 0.05). The effects of EESM were comparable to that of standard drug Silymarin. The results indicate that EESM shows hepatoprotective effects on paracetamol-induced liver damage in rat this may due to antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity of EESM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]