Phytochemical composition and antioxidant property of methanolic leaf extract of Lantana camara Linn.
K. Girish*
Department of Microbiology, Government College for Women, Kolar - 563101 (India) e-mail: girishk77@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Abstract Oxidative stress has been shown to play an important role in the development of a number of pathological events in human body. Natural antioxidants would be effective in protecting the human body from the oxidative damage by free radicals. Plants are a source of large amount of drugs belonging to different groups that are known to relieve various diseases including oxidative stress. Lantana camara Linn., is a noxious weed belonging to Verbenaceae. Extracts from the leaves of this plant have been reported to have various biological activities. In the present study, methanolic leaf extract of L. camara was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening and antioxidant activities analysis. The antioxidant activities were measured in vitro using various antioxidant assays including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide anion radicals (O2) and hydroxyl radical (OH) scavenging activity, nitric oxide free radical scavenging activity, reducing power assay and metal chelating activity, compared with the positive controls butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), ascorbic acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The methanolic leaf extract of L. camara exhibited effective antioxidant property in vitro. High free radical scavenging activity as well as strong reducing power and ion chelating abilities were observed. Thus the results obtained in the present study indicate that the methanolic leaf extract of L. camara can be a potential source for natural antioxidant