In vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of partially purified coumarins from fungal endophytes of Crotalaria pallida

During the process of oxygen utilization in a normal physiological and catabolic process, approximately 5% of oxygen gets univalently reduced to oxygen derived free radicals (ROS) like superoxide anions (O2-), hydroxyl (.OH), nitric oxide (NO), which damage cellular components causing tissue injury through covalent binding (Yu, 1994; Katsube et al., 2006). Free radicals have been implicated in causation of diseases such as diabetes, inflammation, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, atherosclerosis, liver cirrhosis, nephrotoxicity etc (Lachance et al., 2001). It has been suggested that fruits, vegetables, plants are the main source of antioxidant in the diet. Natural antioxidants may have free-radical scavengers, reducing agents, complexes of ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 3 Number 8 (2014) pp. 58-72 http://www.ijcmas.com