Original Article Evaluation of antioxidant potential & quantification of polyphenols of Diplazium esculentum Retz. with emphasis on its HPTLC chromatography Biswadeep Das a, *, Tania Paul a , Kishori Ganpat Apte a , Rajendra Chauhan b , Ramesh Chandra Saxena c a APT Research Foundation, S. No 36/1/1, M.N. 199, Vadgaon Khurd, Sinhagad Road, Pune, Maharashtra, India b M.L.B Girls’ P.G Autonomous College, Bhopal, M.P., India c Pest Control and Ayurvedic Drug Research Laboratory, SSL Jain P.G. College, Vidisha, M.P., India article info Article history: Received 11 August 2012 Accepted 10 November 2012 Keywords: ABTS H 2 O 2 Phytochemical screening Flavonoid Saponin abstract Objective: The vegetable fern Diplazium esculentum Retz. was traditionally as well as scien- tifically examined to possess anti anaphylactic and mast cell stabilizing potential. It was thus needed to investigate its phytochemical constituents, antioxidant potential along with HPTLC Profiling. Methods: The aqueous and the ethanolic extracts of the fern were studied for the antioxi- dant activity by ABTS radical scavenging assay and H 2 O 2 radical scavenging potential. Polyphenols namely phenols and flavonoids are believed to play key roles in providing protection against oxidative stress for which they were quantified using spectrophoto- metric methods and compared with their respective standards. Later HPTLC chromato- gram was developed with particular solvent system for separation of flavonoids and saponins present in the fronds of the fern. Results: The results obtained suggested that the ethanolic extract have more phenolics, flavonoid and saponins than the aqueous extract. In the HPTLC chromatogram, a number of peaks at different Rf values were obtained which suggested presence of varied types of polyphenols and steroidal saponins. Conclusion: Owing to the present findings it can be concluded that the fern D. esculentum have considerable amount of polyphenols and saponins which might collectively be responsible for its pharmacological principles. Copyright ª 2012, JPR Solutions; Published by Reed Elsevier India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Diplazium esculentum Retz. is commonly known as edible vegetable fern 1 which is found mostly near river and swamp area. It is probably the most commonly consumed fern in hill tribes of north eastern India along with Bangladesh and Phil- lipines. 2 It is reported that the edible fronds are rich in iron, phosphorus, potassium and protein. 3 It is believed by the * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 (0) 8805325749 (mobile). E-mail address: biswadeepds077@gmail.com (B. Das). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/JOPR journal of pharmacy research 6 (2013) 93 e100 0974-6943/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2012, JPR Solutions; Published by Reed Elsevier India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jopr.2012.11.020