Free radical scavenging activity of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl. fruit

Abstract

Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl. commonly known as Bottle gourd has been widely used as vegetable in India especially by cardiac patients. Since this property may be correlated with the presence of radical scavenging activity, extracts of the fruit were evaluated for this purpose.The fruit was collected and epicarp, mesocarp and pulp containing seeds were separated. Each of them was extracted with different solvents in increasing order of polarity. Extracts were prepared using the Soxhlet apparatus by serial extraction technique and their respective extractive values were determined. All the extracts were assessed by 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The maximum antioxidant activity was observed in the acetone extract of fruit epicarp. Chemical investigation revealed that radical scavenging activity may be due to the presence of ellagitannins present in the acetone extract of epicarp.