ABSTRACT:
Portulaca oleraceae and Portulaca quadrifida have been used as a part of diet and in traditional systems of medicine in Asia and Africa. Recent studies have shown that they may also be rich sources of beneficial polyunsaturated fatty acids. The present study was aimed at comparing the phytochemical constituents of ethanolic extracts of the P. oleraceae and P. quadrifida and studying the anti-oxidant activity of these plants collected from western part of India which could further enhance their nutritive value. The different parts of the plants were extracted using microwave-assisted technique, screened for phytochemicals using GC-MS, and anti-oxidant activity was studied using DPPH, ABTS, superoxide radical scavenging assays and ferric reducing anti-oxidant assays. The results of antioxidant assays were compared to standards ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoulene for each assay. All the extracts exhibited antioxidant activity comparable to the standards. Amongst the samples studies, the ethanolic extract of the P. oleraceae fresh whole plant showed the maximum activity in most of the assays. The phytochemicals detected in the two species were markedly different from each other but were found to be rich in unsaturated fatty acids and other pharmacologically beneficial compounds. The extracts exhibited anti-oxidant activity in-vitro which could further help investigators study their in-vivo anti-oxidant activity.