Investigation of in vitro Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Selected Siddha Polyherbal Formulations

Objective: This study deals with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of selected Siddha polyherbal formulations such as Amukkara choornam, Thirikadugu choornam, Eladi choornam and Thiripala choornam. Amukkara choornam consist of seven herbals (withania, ginger, black pepper, long pepper, mesua, cardamom and clove). Thirikadugu choornam has three herbal ingredients ginger, black pepper and long pepper. Eladi choornam has seven raw drugs like cardamom, ginger, arrow root, yew leaves, Mesua, black pepper and clove. Thiripala choornam comprises of three dry fruits amla, chebulla and bellerica. Methods: Even though all these medicines have been used as analgesic for joint pain in Siddha system of medicine, their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were not yet proved scientifically. In the present work, we have evaluated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of aqueous extract of the above-mentioned herbal formulations. Results: Among the investigated formulations, Thiripala choornam has six folds higher level of total phenolic content (1248 mf GAE/100 g) when compared to other formulations (190.42 – 199.78 mg GAE/100 g). Similarly, Thiripala choornam exhibited promising antioxidant activity in terms of radical scavenging potential against DPPH (IC-50: 156 mg/L), superoxide (IC-50: 2303 mg/L), hydrogen peroxide (IC-50: 294 mg/L) and hydroxyl radical (IC-50: 587 mg/L) and anti-inflammatory activity (IC-50: 24 mg/L). Conclusion: Among the investigated samples, Thiripala choornam was found to exhibit high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential and thus could be used as more effective analgesic formulation.