Determination of in-vitro antioxidant activity of leaf extracts of Rhizophora mucronata Lam. (Rhizophoraceae)

The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant activity of potential medicinal plant Rhizophora mucronata. Shade dried leaves of R. mucronata was powdered and extracted with various solvents by cold maceration method. Antioxidant activity of R. mucronata was determined by using different methods namely DPPH, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, superoxide radical scavenging activity, ABTS radical scavenging activity and reducing power assays, and its IC50 values were found. The extracts exhibited marked dose dependent in-vitro antioxidant activity. The results indicated that the methanol extract is the most potent antioxidant. This holds great promise for the use of R. mucronata as a source of strong antioxidant compounds.