IN-VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EVALUATION OF SUCCESSIVE EXTRACTS OF ZIZIPHUS NUMMULARIA

Ziziphus nummularia is commonly found plant in dry regions of South Asia such as India, Pakistan. Z. nummularia contains numerous phytochemicals such as flavonouds, alkaloids that are responsible for numerous biological activities. In current study, elaborative pharmacognostic studies on the leaves of Z. nummularia were done for standardization purposes for future studies. The study includes morphology, microscopy, physicochemical properties, phytochemical studies and fluoroscence analysis. Besides, pesticides residue, heavy metal residue, aflatoxins and microorganism analysis were also carried out for the standardization. Further in-vitro anti-inflammatory activity of successive extracts viz. petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol and aqueous extracts was assessed using protein denaturation, RBC membrane satbilisation and protease method at varying concentration i.e. 250, 500, 750, 1000 and 2000 µg/ml. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were also done using DPPH, nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide assay. The phytochemical studies revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides and tannin. The results indicate that ethanolic extract has the highest percentage anti-inflammatory activity (78%) when compared to other extracts with an IC₅₀ value of 206g/ml. Similarly, antioxidant potential of ethanolic extract surpasses all other extracts which shows that ethanolic extract has a free radical scavenging activity.