Phytochemical Evaluation and Antioxidant activity of Piper cubeba and Piper nigrum.

ABSTRACT

Indian spices that provide flavor, color, and aroma to food also possess many therapeutic properties. Ancient Indian texts of Ayurveda, an Indian system of medicine, detailed the medicinal properties of these plants and their therapeutic usage. Recent scientific research has established the presence of many active compounds in these spices that are known to possess specific pharmacological properties. The therapeutic efficacy of these individual spices for specific pharmacological actions has also been established by experimental and clinical studies. The medicinal effects traditionally ascribed to Indian spices are validated by modern pharmacological and experimental techniques, thus providing a scientific rationale to their traditional therapeutic usage. Many plant-derived molecules have shown a promising effect in therapeutics. Among the plants investigated to date, one showing enormous potential is the Piperaceae. Piperine is an alkaloid found naturally in plants belonging to the pyridine group of Piperaceae family, such as Piper nigrum and Piper cubeba. It is widely used in various herbal cough syrups and it is also used in anti inflammatory, anti malarial, anti leukemia treatment. So the present study was aimed to extract the phytochemical compounds in different solvent system in Piper nigrum and Piper cubeba. In preliminary screening and confirmatory test it was identified as alkaloid. High antioxidant activity was found in Piper cubeba ethanol extract i.e. 77.61±0.02% in comparison to Piper nigrum extracts with 74.61±0.02% with IC50 values10.54±0.12μg/mg and 14.15±0.02 μg/mg respectively.