Phytochemical Screening and In vitro Albumin Denaturation Inhibitory Potential of Methanolic Root Extract of Acorus calamus

Introduction: Medicinal plants are chief antidotes for numerous diseases and have been used since time immemorial. Sweet flag’s (Acorus calamus) presence is in Ayurveda and belongs to the genus Acorus L. of the family Acoraceae and is widely distributed in temperate to sub temperate regions. It is commonly used to treat appetite loss, diarrhoea, digestive disorders in traditional medicinal systems of Asian and European countries. The aim of this study is to explore the phytoconstituents, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of methanolic root extract of Acorus calamus.

Materials and Methods: Methanolic root extract of Acorus calamus was done by the Hot Percolation method. Later it was dried and used to analyse the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potentials. Phytochemical screening was done to analyse the presence of various phytochemicals. Antioxidant effect of Acorus calamus was tested by 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity and Albumin denaturation inhibitory potential test was organised for testing it’s anti-inflammatory Activity. The data were analysed statistically by a one-way analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Duncan’s multiple range test was used to see the statistical significance among the groups. The results with the p<0.05 level were considered to be statistically significant.

Results: Methanolic root extract of Acorus calamus was found to be rich in Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Sapanoids, Steroids and Phlobatannin. The presence of phytochemicals like alkaloids, saponins, Flavonoids indicates that the extract has potential for further in vitro analysis like antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potentials. It was observed that Acorus calamus has both antioxidant (IC50 of = 295 µg/ml) as well as anti inflammatory potentials (IC50 =310 µg/ml) and the activity increased in a dose dependent manner as compared to that of standard (Vitamin C and Diclofenac respectively).

Conclusion: The study proves the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory efficacy of Acorus calamus and throws light on the prospects of drug formulation against oxidant activity and inflammation.