PHARMACOGNOSTICAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF ETHANOL AND AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF RANDIA SPINOSA LEAVES

Randia spinosa (Rubiaceae family), commonly known as ‘Mainphal’ is a large shrub or small tree. The plant grows in Brazil, Ceylon, China, East tropical Africa, India, Malaya and Sumatra. The leaves of Randia spinosa is used in traditional medicine to treat diarrhea and dysentery, snake bite, wound healing, inflammation, tumors, piles, gastrointestinal and skin diseases. The objective of this study is to investigate pharmacognostical, phytochemical features and antioxidant activity of ethanol and aqueous extracts of Randia spinosa leaves by using DPPH assay method. Pharmacognostical characteristics like microscopy, total ash, acid insoluble ash, water insoluble ash and sulphated ash and loss on drying of Randia spinosa leaves were determined. The preliminary phytochemical studies were performed with various reagents and chemicals on leaf extracts in order to determine the various secondary metabolites. The ethanol and aqueous extracts of Randia spinosa leaves were screened for in-vitro antioxidant activity by oxygen radical scavenging such as 1, 1-diphenyl-2- picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) method. Pharmacognostical studies reveal the microscopical and macroscopical characters of Randia spinosa leaves. Phytochemical screening of the ethanol and aqueous extracts of Randia spinosa leaves revealed the presence of secondary metabolites like alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids and glycosides. The ethanol and aqueous extracts showed good dose dependent free radical scavenging property. IC₅₀ values for aqueous and ethanol extracts were calculated by DPPH method. Aqueous extract had shown more free radical scavenging power as compared to ethanol extract. Ascorbic acid was used as standard. The results indicate that ethanol and aqueous extracts of Randia spinosa leaf exhibited antioxidant activity, supporting its uses in traditional medicine. Further studies on the isolation of bioactive phytoconstituents of Randia spinosa leaves and their  mechanism of action are strongly recommended before its application to humans.