Antioxidant Potential Profile of Extracts from Different Parts of Black Mulberry

Abstract

Present study is aimed to exploit a potent and cheaper natural sources of

antioxidants. Morus nigra L. is considered to be an antidiabetic and diuretic

agent in the folk medicinal system of Indo-Pak subcontinent. Antioxidant

potential and radical scavenging activity of the various organic and aqueous

extracts of leaves, stem and fruit of M. nigra were investigated using 2,2'-

azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) decolourization

assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, 2.2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl

(DPPH) assay, total phenolic content (TPC) assay and total antioxidant

activity assay. Using ABTS^•+ decolourization assay and FRAP assay, M.

nigra extracts showed a wide range of antioxidant activity. Using TPC assay

the amount of total phenolics ranged from 1.3048 to 5.8287, 0.413 to 2.9394

and 0.5346 to 6.2266 mg/L for different fractions of leaves, stem and fruit of

M. nigra, respectively. Good co-relation was found between TPCs and TEAC

values determined by ABTS^•+ decolourization assay (r² = 0.977, 0.943 and

0.823 for leaves, stem and the fruit of stem and FRAP assay (r² = 0.887,

0.842 and 0.773 for leaves, stem and the fruit) of M. nigra. Employing total

antioxidant assay using linoleic acid emulsion system, methanol, 1-butanol,

aqueous and ethyl acetate fractions of all the parts of M. nigra showed strong

peroxyl radicals scavenging activity. The data obtained by employing antioxidant

and radical scavenging assays demonstrated the effectiveness of all

the parts of M. nigra as antioxidative and radical scavenging which may also

be correlated with its anti-disease activity in in vivo.