Evaluation of antioxidant and urease inhibition activities of roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra.

The object of this study is to determine the antioxidant activity of extracts from Glycyrrhiza glabra roots. The parent extract is methanolic extract while its sub fractions were prepared in ethyl acetate, chloroform, and n-butanol. The method based on scavenging activity and reduction capability of 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH). Urease inhibition activities of these extracts were also evaluated. Chloroform fraction was the most effective antioxidant with 87.7% activity but the activity is less than the crude methanolic extract i.e. 90%. Chloroform fraction showed the same trend in reducing power as that in radical scavenging activity. However n- butanol extract was devoid of any activity when compared to standard BHA. Crude methanolic fraction and its sub-fractions were also screened for enzyme inhibition activities using jackbean urease as substrate. Significant anti urease activity i.e. 72 % was observed in the ethyl acetate fraction with respect to standard inhibitor thiourea.