Antioxident qualities found in plants

Scientists have used gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) processes to determine the antioxidant properties of flowers and roots.

In a study, published by BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine and undertaken by a team from the Department of Microbiology at Barkatullah University in India, the in-vitro antioxidant activities and the phytochemical constituents of methanolic extracts of Pyrostegia venusta (Ker Gawl) Miers were screened.

The scientists intended to identify a natural antioxidant to deal with the problems caused by free radical stress, such as arthritis, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, neurodegenerative diseases and carcinogenesis.

GC-MS was used to assess the phytochemical composition of the flower extracts.

They found that the roots and flowers had a significant inhibitory effect on ABTS free radicals, with the antioxidant activity of the extracts of flowers and roots found to be comparable with that off ascorbic acid and BHT.

"The extracts of flowers and roots of P. venusta contain significant amounts of phytochemicals with antioxidative properties and could serve as inhibitors or scavengers of free radicals," the report claimed, adding that P. venusta could be exploited as a potential source for plant-based pharmaceutical products.