ABSTRACT
The fruit of bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley] is known for its nutritional and nutraceutical content. The main objective of this study was to characterize the no-solvent, cold-pressed, bottle gourd extract for hepatoprotective, anti-hemolytic, anti-radical activities, total phenolic content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC). The extract displayed resistance against cytotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride. It exhibited potent free radical scavenging activity showing IC50 in 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging as 17.01 mg∙mL−1, and in hydrogen peroxide scavenging as 0.22 mg∙mL−1, which were comparable with those of the standards, Trolox and ascorbic acid, respectively. In the anti-hemolytic assay, the IC50 values of the extract and ascorbic acid standard were 8.70 and 4.98 mg∙mL−1, respectively. Under similar conditions, TPC and TFC were 39.22 µg GAE (gallic acid equivalent)∙g−1 dried extract and 90.66 µg RE (rutin equivalent)∙g−1 dried extract, respectively. The extract of L. siceraria exhibited hepatoprotective, anti-hemolytic and antioxidant activities establishing its use as multi-target complementary herbal drug.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Department of Biochemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, for collaboration in determination of some biological activities.