Screening of Antioxidant & Antidiabetic Potential of Polyphenol rich fraction from Cichorium intybus

Introduction: Chicory(Cichoriumintybus) commonly known as kasni has health benefits such as improving liver health, digestion, boosting immune system possibly because of its water soluble dietary fibres and polyphenols. A diet rich in polyphenols and fibers helps in lowering cholesterol leading to less plaque formation, preventing blockage and risk of stroke. Owing to the fact that these polyphenols may reduce the elevated glucose the present research work was undertaken to extract the polphenols from Chicory roots and evaluate their antioxidant and hypoglycemic potential. Materials and Methods: Polyphenol rich fraction of root extract was subjected to estimation of total phenolic estimation and free radical scavenging activity using various antioxidant assays. The antidiabetic potential of the polyphenol rich fraction was also estimated using Alloxan Induced Diabetic Rat model. Results: The total phenolic content of the polyphenolic fraction was found to be 30.23μg/ml. The IC50 values for DPPH and ABTS assay for the polyphenolic fraction were found to be 60µg/ml and 4.2mg/ml respectively. The TEAC value was found to be 1.178 mm. Administration of polyphenol rich fraction (30 mg/kg, p.o.) decreased elevated SG from 122mg/dl to78.66mg/dl on 14th day (***p<0.001). Also a significant reduction in triglycerides (**P<0.01), total cholesterol (**P<0.01), serum LDL (**P<0.01) and serum alkaline phosphatase (**P<0.01) was observed at 30 mg/kg, p.o. However, serum HDL was found to be elevated with no change in serum insulin (*P<0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the polyphenol rich fraction of Chicory roots possess a strong hypoglycemic potential probably due to their antioxidant activity.

Key words: Cichoriumintybus, polyphenols, antioxidant, antidiabetic, total cholesterol.