Antioxidant potential of Anogeissus latifolia

Anogeissus latifolia is widely used in the Indian indigenous system of medicine and is reported to contain leucocyanidins and tannoid principles like ellagic acid and its derivatives. In view of its wide use and its chemical composition, this study was aimed at examining the antioxidant activity of the extract of A. latifolia. The extract was studied for total antioxidant capacity, hydrogen-donating ability, nitric oxide, superoxide scavenging activity, hydrogen peroxide decomposition activity along with lipid peroxidation. Integral antioxidative capacity was determined by chemiluminescence assay. The extract was also studied for lipid peroxidation assay by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) method using rat liver homogenate. The results indicate that A. latifolia extract has potent antioxidant activity. Also to ascertain the possible reason for the potent activity, percentage of gallic acid was estimated and was found to be 0.95%, which could be one of the reasons for potent antioxidant activity exhibited by the plant.