Effect of fractionation on In vitro antiradical efficacy of acetone extract of Terminalia chebula Retz

Abstract

The chemical diversity of antioxidants in complex matrices makes it difficult to separate and quantify them in natural form. Therefore, it is enviable to establish methods that can measure the total antioxidant capacity of extracts. In the present study, the different assays, especially most widely used: deoxyribose, reducing, chelating power, lipid peroxidation and DNA nicking assays have been used to assess the antioxidant capacity of acetone extract/fractions of Terminalia chebula. The extract was prepared by maceration method and further fractionated with ethyl acetate and water. It was observed that the radical scavenging activity of fractions was comparatively more as compared to crude extract, and ethyl acetate fraction showed maximum effect in all assays. The percent inhibition with ethyl acetate fraction of acetone extract was observed to be 79.2, 85.9, 90.1 and 88.9% in chelating power, lipid peroxidation, site specific and non-site specific deoxyribose scavenging assays, respectively at maximum concentration tested. The results of present work indicate that ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) might be the potential antioxidant for application in food products.