PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT STUDIES OF JUSTICIA GENDARUSSA BURM. F. AN ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANT

Present investigation deals with the phytochemical and antioxidant studies of Justicia gendarussa Burm.f. (family Acanthaceae), a  medicinally important herb. Biochemical studies highlighted that in leaf tissue, quantities of soluble carbohydrate, amino acid and ascorbic acid are of 307 mg/g, 34.93 mg/g and 619µg/g, respectively. In stem bark, quantities of soluble carbohydrate, amino acid and ascorbic acid are of 185 mg/g, 26.86 mg/g and 330.33µg/g, respectively. Pigment content in dried leaf has been estimated as chlorophyll a 46µg/g, chlorophyll b 16.1µg/g and total carotenoids 16.7µg/g. In bark, amounts of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total carotenoids are of 23.9µg/g, 21 µg/g and 14.6µg /g, respectively. Enzyme content in fresh leaf showed that amount of the catalase is 4.89 EU/ g fresh tissue and in bark it is 2.39 EU/ g. Peroxide is 3.4 EU/g for fresh leaf and 2.21 EU/g in stem bark DPPH radical scavenging activity was considerably high for methanolic extract of leaf that is 31.36 % and in case of bark the activity was 23.74 %. The IC₅₀ value of the leaf extract was 75µg/mL and for bark it was 119µg/mL. The total phenolic content in leaf was 33.96 mg/g and in bark it was 31.4 mg/g. The medicinal properties of this plant nicely correlate with its phytochemical content and antioxidant activities. Further scientific investigation of the plant has to be carried out to standardize the bioactive compounds.