STUDY OF ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIEMETIC POTENTIAL OF WILDLY GROWING HERBS

Abstract

Herbs are the plants which have aromatic and fragrant properties which are either grown as food or to treat various illnesses. Use of herbs and natural resources of medicines leads to a system of treatment and prevention which is much more effective and has lesser side effects. These herbs also have antioxidants in them which have been proven highly beneficial for a lot many purposes. Antioxidants are the compounds that inhibit oxidation reactions. These antioxidants stabilize the unstable free radicals in order to put a stop to the damage and adverse effects that these free radicals or molecules may cause. This study contains two major parts which is evaluation of antioxidant activity and antiemetic activity. Vomiting or emesis is an involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of the stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Emesis is mostly induced by the side effects of chemotherapy, sickness of motion, anesthetics, opioid analgesic or any other illnesses and emesis is usually treated by antiemetic agents which efficiently work against emesis. The main objective of this study is to determine the antioxidant and antiemetic activity of two herbs i.e. Parthenium hysterophorus and Coronopus didymus in order to find out their medicinal use. For antioxidant activity three protocols have been used which are Radical scavenging of hydrogen peroxide assay, DPPH radical scavenging assay, and Total antioxidant capacity assay. While for antiemetic activity, the Copper Sulfate induced Chick Emesis model has been used. Both of the activities were followed by the preparation of methanolic extracts of herbs. The Results of antioxidant activity revealed that both the herbs contain antioxidants in them but with every assay both herbs showed different percentages of inhibition. But overall results showed that both the herbs have different kinds of phytochemicals, bioactive flavonoids, and many other phenolic groups that are responsible for good antioxidant activity in both the herbs. On the other hand, antiemetic activity results showed that C. didymus showed more antiemetic activity as compared to P. hysterophorus. The student’s unpaired t-test also applied to the results; *p<0.05 vs control group showed significant difference in values of both the groups. Extract no.2 (P. hysterophorus) has less difference to the control group as compared to extract no.1 (C. didymus) and standard group. This is due to the absence of certain compounds or components like terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, steroids and tannins that are considered beneficial in inhibiting retching and combating vomiting or nausea.