Assessment of Antioxidant Potential and Acute Toxicity Studies of Whole Plant Extract of Pergularia daemia (Forsk)

Background: Pergularia daemia (Asclepiadacea) is a fetid- smelling perennial herb growing well along the river bang and road sides of India. Naturally the plant has powerful antioxidants including polyphenols, flavanoids, steroids and terpenoids. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant potential and to determine the median lethal dose (LD₅₀) of crude ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Pergularia daemia. The plant Pergularia daemia possess effective scavenging activity against 2, 2’ azino bis (3 ethylbenzothiazoline 6 sulfonic acid (ABTS), nitric oxide and reducing power radicals at different concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400 & 500 μg/mL) of both extracts. Results: From the above in vitro assay we have exposed that the methanolic extract exert higher antioxidant activity at 400 μg/mL than ethyl acetate extract. Acute toxicity study revealed that the extracts showed no signs of toxicity upto a dose level of 2500 mg/kg b.wt. Conclusion: Thus our findings provide that both extracts of Pergularia daemia possess a strong antioxidant capacity and are relatively has high margin of safety.