Determination of Antioxidant Activity of Acacia Nilotica Linn from different Regions of Baluchistan (Pakistan)

Abstract

Free radicals are naturally occurring species with unpaired electrons that are formed during normal metabolic processes. Their formation in a high amount may cause oxidation of essential structural molecules of cell, the condition is known as oxidative stress which results in several health issues such as cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, inflammatory diseases, arthritis and a lot more. To overcome these effects, antioxidants, both synthetic and natural ones are consumed by people. Due to recent evidences about the long term harmful effects of synthetic antioxidants the interest towards the natural sources has increased. The aim of the current research is to comparatively analyze the antioxidant activity of acacia Nilotica Linn samples collected from different regions of Makran by using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) assay on which no work has been done so far. The DPPH assay of the samples gave the following results with antioxidant activity values as 18.51851%, 4.47761%, and 8.25958% for the samples of acacia Nilotica Linn from Shahrak, acacia from Turbat, acacia from Pedrak. The results revealed that acacia Nilotica Linn from Shahrak exhibits maximum free radical scavenging activity. More work on chemical composition of the tested samples has to be done.