2021, Vol. 9, Issue 1, Part A

author(s)
Ved Prakash and Anand Sagar

abstract
In today’s times, the role of antioxidants has been continuously recognised as a critical influence on the biochemistry of living beings. Any substance that causes delay or prevents oxidative damage to a target biomolecule is often known as an antioxidant. Antioxidants prevent the oxidation of certain biomolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids etc. by various mechanisms. The current study was undertaken to investigate the leaf extracts of Verbascum thapsus Linn. for their antioxidant activity. The antioxidant capacity of the different extracts i.e. methanol, acetone and aqueous was evaluated by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and reducing power tests. The plant exhibited good DPPH radical scavenging activity (57.00% at 100 µg/mL in methanol extract) but moderate reducing power potential. Thus the study provided scientific evidence to the traditional uses of this plant in the treatment of disorders caused due to oxidative stress. Therefore, the leaf extracts of this plant can be selected for further investigation to predict their exact mechanism by isolating and purifying their active constituents.