Fermentation Enhances Redox Protective Activities of Gymnosporia royleana Wall. ex Lawson Extracts

Plant-based medicines play an important role in the life of human being. In this era, some modern and ancient techniques are used to enhance the therapeutic potential of plants. Fermentation is one of the ancient techniques used to improve the medicinal effect of the plants. Gymnosporia royleana Wall. ex Lawson roots and leaves were compared with respect to their free radical scavenging potential with fermented and non-fermented extracts. Qualitative phytochemicals analysis of this plant showed the presence of important phytochemicals. The yield parameter was also measured in five different solvents, i.e., n hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, ethanol and water. Maximum yield was shown by the methanolic leaf extract (11%) and minimum by n-hexane root extract (0.3%). Free radical scavenging effect was observed in two sets (fermented and non-fermented). Fermentation was done by β-glucosidase enzyme. Four different scavenging assays were used. In all assays, maximum scavenging potential was shown by ethyl acetate extract and minimum by n-hexane. In all assays, fermented extracts were good in their scavenging potential as compared to the non-fermented. Among all assays, plant extracts gave more positive result with phosphomolybdate assay compared to other assays. Our finding confirms that the fermentation helps in enhancing antioxidant potential of plant extract.