Abstract:
Vellargu choornam is a herbal preparation of the Siddha drug mentioned in the Siddha
Medical literatures for the treatment of arthritis, oedema, gastro intestinal tract ulcers, itches, and diabetes
mellitus. The main constituent of choornam is whole plant of Enicostemma littorale Blume. The total
phenolic and total flavonoid contents of choornam were determined as Gallic acid equivalents (mgGAE/ g)
and Querticin equivalents (mgQE/ g) respectively. Hot aqueous and methanol extracts of the choornam
were screened for their potential in-vitro antioxidant activities using tests such as 2, 2- diphenyl-1-
picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) activity, Ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, 2, 2’ – azinobis-(3-ethyl benzothiazolone- 6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) activity, and iron chelating activity. The maximum yield of the
extracts, total phenolic and flavonoid compounds were recorded in methanol (21.76%; 44.41±1.26
mgGAE/g; 174.44±9.32 mgQE/g) and aqueous (36.29%; 20.11±0.92 mgGAE/g; 42.74±2.82 mgQE/g)
fractions respectively. Iron chelating activity was not found at 1.75 mg/ml concentration of hot methanol
and aqueous extracts of chooanam. Overall results of in-vitro antioxidant activity assays indicated that in
comparison to the standard trolox, Vellargu choornam has no significant (p≤0.05) antioxidant activity.
Phenolic and flavonoids components have been reported to exert significant antioxidant activity. Although
the total phenolic and flavonoids component were detected in the hot methanol and aqueous extracts, these
does not appear to be reported a correlation between the observed in-vitro antioxidant activity and total
phenolic and flavonoids component of Vellargu choornam. Therefore, antioxidant activity does not appear
to be a major mechanism for which Vellargu choornam exerts beneficial effects in inflammatory conditions.
