Comparative Studies on Antioxidant Activity, Total Phenol Content and High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography Analysis of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L) Leaves

Background: Seabuckthorn (SBT) is a high altitude medicinal plant with vast history of use in traditional medicinal systems such as Tibetan and Chinese systems. SBT leaves have shown range of pharmacological properties suggesting their importance to be used for product development. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare 75% ethanolic extracts of male and female SBT leaves on the basis of antioxidant activity, total phenol content and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) estimation of β-sitosterol and ursolic acid. It also involved comparison of total phenol contents of successive soxhlet extracts (pet ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and aqueous) of above leaves. Materials and Methods: Antioxidant activities and total phenol contents of the extracts were evaluated by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl free radical scavenging assay and Folin–Ciocalteu reagent based assay, respectively. Results: Male leaf extract was found to show signifi cantly higher antioxidant activity and total phenol content than that of female leaves. Furthermore, the successive extracts of male leaves showed higher phenol contents than that of female leaves. However, it was not signifi cant in case of pet ether and chloroform extracts. In HPTLC estimation, concentration of β-sitosterol in female leaf extract was observed to be less than that of male leaf extract. However, ursolic acid concentration was found to be almost same in both the type of leaf extracts. Conclusion: The results suggest the need for developing standard quality control profi le of SBT leaves, especially for product development.

Key words: Antioxidant activity, 75% ethanolic extract, high performance thin layer chromatography, seabuckthorn, total phenol content.