Vol 10, Issue 1, 2017 Online - 2455-3891 Print - 0974-2441 EVALUATION OF PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF PITHECELLOBIUM DULCE LEAVES’ EXTRACT SUMAN KUMARI* Department of Biochemistry, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India. Email: sumanraotatla@gmail.com Received: 07 October 2016, Revised and Accepted: 14 October 2016 ABSTRACT Objective: Diseases due to pathogenic fungi represent a critical problem to human health which is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Synthetic drugs such as Amphotericin B mitigate many of the side effects associated with liver and kidney dysfunctions. Widely distributed traditional medicinal plants-based antimicrobial drugs are cost effective in the treatment of infectious diseases having no side effects. Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) belongs to the family of Leguminosae, is an evergreen tree widely distributed in the greater part of India which has been widely used in traditional medicine, but lacks scientific scrutiny. The present study revealed P. dulce extract effectiveness against A. fumigates and Aspergillus niger and showed antioxidant activity. Methods: Leaves’ extract was prepared according to the polarity of solvent, i.e., hexane, chloroform, acetone, methanol, and water. Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant activity, and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were tested against selected fungus. Results: Phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, coumarin, tannins, anthocyanin, and triterpenoids. Methanol and water extract was found to contain significant amounts of alkaloids, phenols, and flavonoids. Methanolic extract showed MIC against tested fungus, and extract was further fractionated by solvent-solvent fractionation and MIC was tested. MIC for A. fumigatus was 0.62 mg/ml and for A. niger was 1.25 mg/ml, and the results were comparable with effective synthetic drug Amphotericin B. Conclusion: Extract possesses potent fungicidal activity which, in turn, may be due to the presence of biologically active ingredient. Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Phytochemical activity, Antifungal activity, Minimum inhibitory concentration, Fractionation. INTRODUCTION Medicinal flora has versatile applications attributable to richest bioresource of drugs in Indian Ayurveda (traditional medicines), modern pharmaceutical intermediates, and chemical entities for synthetic drugs formation. Bioresources are primary (carbohydrates, proteins, and amino acids) and secondary metabolites (steroids, flavonoids, phenolics, glycosides, saponins, tannins, terpenoids, and coumarins) that impart medicinal properties to the plants. The current advancement to discover drugs from natural sources has resulted in compounds that are being developed to treat cancer, resistant bacteria, fungus, protozoa, or viruses and immunosuppressive disorders [1]. Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth (Syn. Mimosa dulcis Roxb.; Inga dulcis Wild.; Inga lanceolata Blanco.) belongs to family Leguminosae, is an evergreen tree widely distributed in India, and is also found in Southeast Asia. Plant locally is known by various names at different regions, namely, Hindi - Vilayati babul, vilayati imli, jungle jalebi; English - Quamachil, Madras thorn, and manila tamarind. Various parts of plant are used for different purposes such as leaves have been reported to possess abortifacient, antidiabetic properties, emollient, anticonvulsant, and antiulcer. The leaves can be applied as plasters for pain and venereal sores. Decoctions of leaves have been reported to be used for indigestion, intestinal disorder, earache, toothache, leprosy, and larvicide [2]. The bark of the plant is reported to be used as astringent in dysentery, febrifuge, and it is also useful in dermatitis and eye inflammation. P. dulce is one of the traditional medicinal plants that lack scientific examination for its pharmacological properties. Oxidative stress resulted from free radicals and reactive oxygen species are associated with many diseases. Several studies are going on worldwide directed toward finding natural antioxidants of plant origin. Plants containing secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds have been reported to possess strong antioxidant activity. The aim of the present study was to screen phytochemical constituents, in vitro antioxidant activity, and antifungal of P. dulce Benth. in different solvents according to their polarity. METHODS General Folin–Ciocalteu reagent, Na 2 CO 3 , potassium ferricyanide [K3Fe(CN)6], trichloroacetic acid, FeCl 3 , 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitro blue tetrazolium, NADH, phenazine methosulfate, 2-deoxyribose, FeSO 4 -EDTA, thiobarbituric acid (TBA), NaOH, 2-deoxyribose, FeSO 4 - EDTA, TBA, and NaOH were purchased from Hi-Media. Extract preparation The leaves of the plant P. dulce growing in the local areas of Rohtak district of Haryana State were collected during January 2015. The plant material was washed thoroughly, initially with tap water and then with distilled water to remove any debris or dust particles, further allowed to dry in shade. The dried plant material was ground to a fine powder and stored at room temperature in airtight containers until used further. To 500 g of leaf powder, 1500 ml of each solvent, namely, hexane, chloroform, acetone, methanol, and distilled water, was added serially for preparing the extracts in increasing solvent polarity. Extraction with each solvent was done for 72 hrs at room temperature in the shaker with the rotation of 250 rpm, after © 2017 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2017.v10i1.15576 Research Article