Antioxidant

Ginkgo biloba is one of the important traditional medicines mentioned in the Chinese pharmacopoeia as an antiasthmatic against polyuria and for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The present study was undertaken to investigate antioxidant efficacy of extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves. In cholesterol fed wistar rats. Result of the study showed a significant (P < 0. 01 ) increase in lipid peroxidation (TBARS level) with a concomitant decrease in glutathione (GSH) content (P < 0.01 ) and catalase (P < 0.05 ) activity in liver of cholesterol fed rats . Simultaneous treatment of Ginkgo bilobaleaves extract at 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg b.wt./day doses, orally for 90 days along with cholesterol feeding significantly prevented the rise of liver, TBARS level and improved the levels of glutathione and catalase in liver. The results of the present study suggest that extract of Ginkgo bilobasignificant antioxidant activities in Wistar rats.

The main objective of this study was to assess antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of flower and leaf samples of Woodfordia fruticosa. Antimicrobial assay of the crude extracts was performed against six tested pathogenic strains including two Gram-positive bacteria viz. Staphylococcus aureus and Micromonospora sp., two Gram negative bacteria viz. Staphylococcus epidermis and Zymomonas mobilis and two fungi, Alternaria solani and Fusarium culmorum by Agar-well diffusion method. The MIC values were determined by broth dilution method. The antioxidant activity of the extracts of the flowers and leaves of Woodfordia fructicosa were investigated by using DPPH scavenging assay and reducing power of the extract. Flowers extracts of the plant has got profound and significant percent (%) DPPH scavenging activity (93.48 ± 0.26) at 200 µg/ml concentration followed by leaves (84.17 ± 0.06) at 200 µg/ml concentration. Antimicrobial screening revealed that the flower parts of the plant showed better antimicrobial activity against micro - organisms as compared to leaf part. Maximum Zone of inhibition was observed in the flower extracts against Staphylococcus aureus (22.4 ± 0.86 mm) amongst the bacteria species and against Alternaria solani (23.5 ± 0.15 mm) amongst the fungal species.