Evaluation of In Vitro Antioxidant Properties of Methanol and Aqueous Extracts of Parkinsonia aculeata L. Leaves

In the present study, methanol and aqueous extracts of Parkinsonia aculeata L. leaves were prepared and analyzed for phytochemical analysis and antioxidant potential in different in vitro assays. Antioxidant activity was studied using DPPH, CUPRAC, reducing power assay, deoxyribose degradation (site and nonsite specific), ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), ferric thiocyanate (FTC), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), and molybdate ion reduction, respectively. The total phenolic contents of the methanol and aqueous leaf extract were 39 mg GAE/g and 38 mg GAE/g, whereas flavonoid contents of these extracts were found to be 0.013 mg RE/g and 0.006 mg RE/g, respectively. From the two extracts, the methanol extract shows maximum inhibition (%) of 57.82%, 71.23%, 48.26%, 69.85%, and 52.78% in DPPH, nonsite- and site-specific, FTC, and TBA assays and absorbance of 0.669 and 0.241 in reducing power and CUPRAC assays at the highest concentration tested. UPLC analysis was done to determine the presence of various types of polyphenols present in plant extracts.