In-Vitro Evaluation of Antioxidant Potential of Colocasia esculenta Corms

Introduction: Colocasia esculenta Linn (family: Araceae; synonym: Arum esculentum Linn; Taro) is one of the most important tubers crops worldwide and has been employed for medicinal applications for a significant period. Traditionally, in Indian and Chinese medicine, taro is utilized for many years for medicinal applications such as hypoglycaemic, antifungal, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, and nervine tonic Taking into consideration the traditional claims, C. esculenta has the potential to be a useful for antioxidant activity. With this perspective in mind, the current research aimed to investigate the antioxidant potential of C. esculenta corms. Method: In vitro antioxidant activity aqueous extract of C. esculenta corms was studied by DPPH method. Ascorbic acid was used as a reference standard. The absorbance of various concentrations of corm extract and ascorbic acid were measured by using UV–Visible Spectrophotometer and the percent radical scavenging activity (% RSA) of the DPPH free radical was measured. Results: The Radical scavenging activity of corm extract of C. esculenta at 400μg/mL was found to be 80.33% at absorbance 0.142. The IC50 value of C. esculenta was found to be 120.16μg/mL which was calculated by using y = 0.0952x+38.56 equation. The Radical scavenging activity of Ascorbic acid at 400μg/ml was found to be 87.67% at absorbance 0.089. The IC50 value of Ascorbic acidwas found to be 28.05μg/mL which was calculated by using y = 0.091x+47.43 equation. Conclusion: Our study indicates that the corm extract has the potential as an antioxidant agent, possibly inhibiting DPPH, when compared with standard ascorbic acid. However, the chemical constituents present in the extract such as saponins, steroids, carbohydrates, glycosides, tannins, flavonoids and proteins may be responsible for such activity.