Antioxidant Properties of Methanolic and Acetone Extracts of Pictacia palaestina, Verbena triphylla and Nigella sativum

Aims: The aim of the study was to estimate the antioxidant characteristics of methanolic and acetone extracts of Pistacia palaestina, Verbena triphylla, and Nigella sativa. Materials and Methods: The biochemical antioxidant assays that used were total phenols and flavonoids, total antioxidant capacity, ferric reducing power and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging. Results: The maximum antioxidant capacity and the ferric-reducing power of the examined plant extracts were shown in P. palaestina/methanol whereas N. sativa L./methanol was the lowest. The maximum scavenging activity of DPPH was shown in N. sativa L./acetone (IC50 = 2688 μg/ml), followed by, V. triphylla/acetone (IC50 = 573.5 μg/ml), N. sativa/methanol (IC50 = 437.7 μg/ml), V. triphylla/methanol (IC50 = 64 μg/ml), and P. palaestina methanol and acetone extracts (IC50 = 9.5 μ/g) being the lowest. Conclusion: The findings with methanol extract of P. palaestina methanol shown the highest antioxidant property which and can be due to the presence of high quantity of phenols and flavonoids in the methanol extract of this plant; moreover, N. sativa acetone extract has maximum DPPH-free radical scavenging activity. This may be because the acetone extract demonstrated capabilities to scavenge radicals remarkably for Nigella sativa L seeds.