Phytochemical Screening and In-vitro Evaluation of Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Potential of Hydroalcoholic and Ethyl Acetate Extracts of Centella asiatica

Abstract

Centella asiatica (L.) Urban (Apiaceous), commonly known as Got kola or Indian pennywort, is a traditional medicinal herb long used in Ayurvedic and folk medicine for wound healing, cognitive enhancement, and management of inflammatory skin conditions. The present study was undertaken to carry out phytochemical screening and to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of hydroalcoholic (HAE) and ethyl acetate (EAE) extracts of C. asiatica leaves. Shade -dried and powdered leaves were subjected to continuous hot Soxhlet extraction separately with ethyl acetate and a hydro alcoholic solvent system. Both extracts were screened for the presence of alkaloids, catechins, coumarins, phenols saponins, triterpenoids, glycosides (Salkowski test) and tannins (lead acetate test) using standard qualitative colour and precipitation reactions. Antioxidant activity was assessed by the nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging assay, and anti-inflammatory potential was evaluated by the Griess- based NO scavenging assay, both over a concentration range of 20 - 80 μg /m L, with ascorbic acid as the reference standard. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, coumarins, phenols, saponins, triterpenoids, glycosides and tannins in bothextracts, whereas the catechin test was negative for both HAE and EAE. In the antioxidant assay, HAE exhibited the highest percentage inhibition (81.40% at 20 ug/mL), a value com parable to or exceeding that of the standard, while EAE showed a concentration-dependent rise in inhibition from 58.74% to 61.82%. In the anti-inflammatory assay, HAE (55.66-57.38%) performed comparably to ascorbic acid (51.82- 55.47%), whereas EAE displayed comparatively weaker activity that decline d with increasing concentration (20.92% to 15.35%). These findings indicate that the hydroalcoholic extract of C. asiatica is a richer source of polar antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytoconstituents than the ethyl acetate extract and support its further exploration for nutraceutical and topical anti-inflammatory applications.

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