Antioxidant and Oxidative DNA Damage Protection Potential of Methanol Extract of Red Tea Stem

This study was undertaken to determine free radical scavenging capacity and oxidative DNA damage protecting activity of methanol extract of red tea stem. The extract was subjected to assess their antioxidant potential using various in vitro systems such as $DPPH^{\bullet}$, $ABTS^{{\bullet}+}$, super oxide and nitric oxide free radicals and it exhibited $IC_{50}$ values of $68.88{\pm}1.1$, $12.08{\pm}0.65$, $404.38{\pm}1.6$, $93.6{\pm}2.7{\mu}g/mL$ respectively. Red tea extract also showed ferric reducing ability (FRAP) with 2606.85 mmol Fe (II)/g of extract. Furthermore, Methanol extract of red tea stem showed significant DNA damage protecting activity in concentration dependent manner against $H_2O_2+UV$ induced photolysis on pUC19 plasmid DNA. Results of this study showed that the methanol extract of Red Tea stem has strong antioxidant potential along oxidative DNA damage protecting capacity that would be the significant sources of natural antioxidants, which might be helpful in preventing the progress of various oxidative stress generated diseases. Further study is necessary for isolation and characterization of the active antioxidants, which may serve as a potential source of natural antioxidant.