Abstract

CHEMICAL PROFILING AND EVALUATION OF BIOACTIVITY OF SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF PTEROSPERMUM ACERIFOLIUM LINN: AN ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANT OF SIMILIPAL BIOSPHERE RESERVE

S.K. Rath, J.K. Patra, S. Gouda, S.K. Dutta and H.N. Thatoi*

ABSTRACT

Pterospermum acerifolium Linn (Sterculiaceae) commonly known as Muchukunda in Odisha is a deciduous tree widely used in traditional medicine. Flowers of Pterospermum acerifolium is reported to be used for different medicinal purposes like antimicrobial and other health disorders. However, few theories are available on the use of its bark. The present study aims at phytochemical profiling and screening of different solvent extracts for itsantioxidant and antibacterial potential. The study reveals that bark extracts of P. acerifolium are a rich source of bioactive constituents like phenolic compounds (2.36%), alkaloids (2.10%), flavonoids (1.84%) and tannin (2.16%) per dry weight. The antioxidant evaluation of the extracts showed that acetone extract are high in total phenol, total ascorbic and total antioxidant content whereas, the DPPH free radical scavenging, ABTS and the Metal chelating activity assay were recorded to be higher in the ethanol extract, followed by acetone in comparison to standard antioxidant BHT. It was also found that the acetone extract have strong antibacterial properties against all the nine human pathogenic strains with MIC and MBC values of 1.25 to 2.5 mg/ml. The results of the present study validate the medicinal potential of the plant which can be further utilized in pharmaceutical industries for drug discovery.

Keywords: antioxidant, antibacterial, bioactive compounds, free radicals, Pterospermum acerifolium and therapeutic agents