Vol. 7, Issue 6 (2018)

Author(s):
Sudeshna Datta, Tapan Seal, BK Sinha and Soumen Bhattacharjee

Abstract:
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the content of water-soluble vitamins like ascorbic acid (C), thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6) and folic acid (B9) in an ethno-medicinally edible plant Mazus pumilus Burm.f. by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The in vitro antioxidant activity was carried out in different solvent system of varying polarity. The 70% Aqueous (Aq.) ethanol was appeared to be the most potent solvent for extraction of antioxidant components. The total phenolic and flavonoid content were found 65.640 ± 0.130mg/g dm (dry mass) and 18.877 ± 0.070mg/g dm respectively in the plant. The estimation of phenolic acids, polyphenolics in the 70 % aq. ethanol extract was also carried out by HPLC method. The water soluble B vitamins ranged between 0.072 to 5.632 mg/100g dm. The results confirm that this ethno medicinally important plant is a good source of natural antioxidants which could be used for the good of human being at the same time it can be used as a vitamin supplement to our diet. The present study also gives an account of traditional significance of the plants under investigation.