A comparative evaluation of enzymatic antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Acmella ulinginosa (Sw.) Cass. and Blumea sinuata (Lour.) Merr.

The growing area of research in immune metabolism reveals that metabolic reactions not only generate ATP and precursor biomolecules for other biosynthetic pathways, they are also generating free radicals. Once these free radicals are produced in the cell, to get stabilized, they react with different biomolecules such as lipid, protein, and nucleic acid, causing various diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, etc. Antioxidant-rich medicinal plants are a possible source for the evolution of the management of health care and pharmaceutical industries. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the enzymatic antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of two selected plant species of the family Asteraceae. Antioxidant properties were investigated, by using superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) enzymatic activities. The highest SOD, POD, and CAT activities showed by Blumea sinuata 18.23 SOD U/ mg of fresh weight, 108.58 nmol/mg of protein, and 40.33 µmol/min/mg of protein respectively. The highest anti-inflammatory activity in aqua methanol exhibited by A. ulinginosa and in acetone extract was slightly higher in B. sinuata.