Authors : SUCHITA BHISE AND SHEELAKULKARNI
Page Nos : 220-223
Description :
Cucumissativus (Linn) commonly known as cucumber. It is a trailing or climbing annual herb belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae, which bears elongated, thick, cylindrical fruits of varying sizes and forms. C.sativusoriginated in India but now cultivated in different parts of the world. Antioxidants are vital substances which possess the ability to protect the body from damages caused by free radical induced oxidative stress. The Present study was aimed to investigate the presence of different phytochemical constituents and to evaluate antioxidant activity of C.sativus fruit in petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and water extracts. All the extracts were testedfor 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydroxyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and compared with L-Ascorbic acid as standard. The antioxidant activity of these extracts was investigated based on their ability to scavenge (DPPH) stable free radical. Phytochemical screening of C.sativus revealed the presence of carbohydrate, alkaloid, amino acid, tannin, flavonoid and Vitamin C. A higher percentage free radical scavenging was found for water extract as compared to all other extracts.
KEY WORDS-Cucumissativus, phytochemical screening, antioxidants, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydroxyl
