RESUMO
Celastrus paniculatus Willd. belongs to the family Celastraceae, and it is an important medicinal plant distributedall over India. Since the antioxidative polyphenols in C. paniculatus have received an increase in attention forhealth-promoting properties by scavenging the free radicals, the objective of this study is aimed at understandingthe antioxidant potential of calli cultures generated from C. paniculatus. To establish the calli cultures, leaf explantsderived from direct organogenesis of C. paniculatus have been cultured on the Murashige and Skoog medium (MS).The culture medium is supplemented with different concentrations of 6-Benzylaminopurine (0.5 mg l−1) along with2,4-D and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0.1–0.7 mg l−1). The MS medium containing 0.5 mg l−1 [Benzylaminopurine(BAP) + NAA] and 0.5 mg l−1 of BAP + 0.3 mg l−1 2,4-D showed to be the best medium for the formation of calli.The calli cultures were harvested and lyophilized for methanolic extraction and estimated the total phenolic andflavonoid contents in the calli cultures by using the spectroscopic method technique and also analyzed by highperformance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) profiling and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) toassess their antioxidant potential. The histological findings supported the result of HPTLC and HPLC by displayinga clear deposition of polyphenols in the vacuoles. Additionally, free radicals generated from the biological systemwere detected and the ‘g’ value was identified by the electron spin resonance spectrum and understood their radicalscavenging activity by several nonenzymatic methods, which include 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay, reducingpower activity, 2, 2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical scavenging assay, and ferric reducingantioxidant power assay. The research results showed that 0.5 mg l−1 of BAP along with NAA is an optimal hormoneconcentration for developing friable calli which in turn yields higher phenolic and flavonoid content.