Evaluation of some essential traditional medicinal plants for their potential free scavenging and antioxidant properties

Objectives: In this study, extracts from different parts of traditionally used medicinal plants were evaluated for their antioxidant activities in vitro. Methods: The free radical hunting or scavenging activity was measured by sample absorbance at 517 nm using spectrophotometer. Methanol and DPPH were used as a blank and negative control, respectively. Results: Medicinal plants showed high values of total phenolic (expressed as gallic acid equivalent, GAE) and flavonoid (expressed as quercetin equivalent, QE) contents of ethanolic extracts of Euphrasiae stricta (E. stricta, 58.19 GAE μg/mg) and (42.44 QE μg/mg), Euphorbia platyphyllos L. (E. platyphyllos L., 46.05 GAE μg/mg) and (43.39 QE μg/mg), Epimedium brevicomum Maxim. (E. brevicomum Maxim., 51.93 GAE μg/mg), and (39.21 QE μg/mg), respectively. Plants have been found to be rich in phenolic and flavonoid compounds, and their hydroxyl groups are responsible for scavenging free radicals. Highest radical scavenging activity was observed in the E. stricta (IC50 = 38.972 μg/mL), E. platyphyllos L. (IC50 = 40.817 μg/mL), and E. brevicomum Maxim (IC50 = 46.265 μg/mL), medicinal plants for both of their ethanolic and methanolic extracts as compared to the ascorbic acid scavenging activity (IC50 = 37.337 μg/mL). Conclusions: It was found that the studied plants are capable of acting as important antioxidants that can be used to treat and inhibit extensive degenerative diseases caused by oxidative stress., including cancer, cardiovascular and inflammation diseases, atherosclerosis, dementia, diabetes, asthma, and eye degenerative diseases.