Free radical scavenging potential of Chlorophytum tuberosum Baker.

Chlorophytum tuberosum Baker commonly referred as 'Musli' has been widely used as a potent 'Rasayana' drug in 'Ayurveda' as a rejuvenator and tonic. Antioxidant potential of Chlorophytum tuberosum has been investigated for their ability to scavenge 1,1,diphenyl picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), nitric oxide radical along with their capacity to reduce lipid peroxidation in rat liver homogenate, chelation of ferrous ion, radical scavenging potential using chemiluminescence and their total antioxidant capacity. Sugar, starch, protein, and Vitamin C content were estimated spectrophotometrically along with the percentages of the individual amino acids by HPLC and individual sugars by using HPTLC as standardization tool. The extract has been found to possess antioxidant activity in all the models tested as evident by IC50 values being 225.31, 888.44, 809.22 and 422.97 microg/ml for scavenging of DPPH, nitric oxide, lipid peroxidation and ferry bi-pyridyl complex, respectively, along with a integral anitoxidant activity of 2.986 nmol ascorbic acid/g equivalents in photochemiluminescence assay.