EVALUATION OF IN-VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND BRINE SHRIMP LETHALITY ACTIVITIES OF FRUIT EXTRACT OF AVERRHOA CARAMBOLA L.

Research with plants and plant derivatives are increasing day by day for the discovery of therapeutic and nutraceutical agents from them and due to the versatile applications of those beneficial agents. The present study was thus designed to investigate the antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of methanolic Averrhoa carambola L. fruit extract along with the identification of the phytochemicals present in the extract. The antioxidant activities were determined by several assays: determination of total phenol content, assessing total flavonoids content, total antioxidant capacity assay and DPPH free radical scavenging assay. The in-vitro cytotoxic activity of fruit extract of Averrhoa carambola L. was determined by Brine Shrimp Lethality assay (BSLA). Preliminary phytochemical screening confirmed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, carbohydrate, saponin, tannin in the methanolic extract of Averrhoa carambola L. fruit which was indicative of possible antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. The extract showed good antioxidant activities having total phenol content of 21.316±0.372 mg GAE/gm, total flavonoid content of 23.058±2.059 mg QE/gm, total antioxidant capacity of the extract was 152.368±2.791 mg AAE/gm. From DPPH free radical scavenging assay, the IC₅₀ value of the extract was found 256.539µg/mL. From BSLA, LC₅₀was calculated as 243.571μg/mL. Our results suggest that methanolic extract of fruits of Averrhoa carambola L. possesses appreciable antioxidant and cytotoxic properties. Fruits of Averrhoa carambola L. may be a good source for natural antioxidants and a possible pharmaceutical supplement. Further studies are needed to isolate the responsible compounds and find out their mechanism of activity