Superoxide anion radical scavenging activity of Cassia siamea and Cassia javanica

This study was designed to explore the antioxidant potential of hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol, and water extract of bark and leaves of Cassia siamea and Cassia javanica by superoxide anion radical scavenging assay. The different extracts showed significant inhibition of superoxide radicals in a dose-dependant manner. Among all the bark extracts of C. siamea, the methanol extract showed the maximum inhibition of 60.5% at 800 μg/ml concentration and water extract also showed strong antioxidant potential of 51.3% at 1000 μg/ml concentration. The water extract of bark of C. javanica showed strong antioxidant potential of 55% at 1000 μg/ml concentration. The various leaf extracts of C. siamea showed moderate antioxidant potential of 25–50% at 1000 μg/ml, whereas methanol leaf extract of C. javanica showed strong antioxidant potential of 50.4% at 300 μg/ml concentration. This preliminary study indicates the antioxidant activity of the bark and leaves of C. siamea and C. javanica.