Preliminary Studies and In-vitro Antioxidant Activity of Fruit-Seed Extracts of Melia azedarach Linn

Melia azedarach is a medicinal plant utilized for the treatment of various disorders in Asian countries. The antioxidant potential of fruit-seeds from this plant was investigated using n-hexane, chloroform, methanol and aqueous extracts. Preliminary studies were performed on powder as well as on various extracts. An in vitro anti-oxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH, ABTS and TAC assays. All aforementioned extracts were rich in flavonoids and polyphenols. The aqueous extract (61.30 ± 3.55%) showed high DPPH scavenging activity followed by methanol (52.95% ± 0.53%), chloroform (52.61 ± 3.59%), and n-hexane extract (51.16 ± 1.70%). Similarly, all the extracts exhibited high ABTS scavenging activity. However, in TAC assay, chloroform extract (81.16 ± 1.09%) exhibited the highest inhibitory activity, followed by aqueous, methanol and n-hexane. Therefore, further isolation and characterization of the plant is required to explore the bioactive compounds for their anti-oxidant activity