Evaluation of the Bioactive compounds and its Functional role in the Aquatic weed Pistia stratiotes

Abstract

Pistia stratiotes (L.) is an invasive aquatic weed known as water lettuce, belonging to the Araceae family. It is commonly used for its therapeutic potency against a number of ailments. This study's purpose is to analyze the pharmacognostical characteristics, screening of phytocompounds, fluorescence evaluation and scavenging activity of the leaf powder of P. stratiotes. The acid insoluble ash (3.22±0.17) was found to be less than total ash (21.85±0.19), water-soluble ash (11.18±0.05) and sulphated ash value (9.63±0.35). The hydro-ethanolic extract was fractionated with solvents of different polarity as per increasing order (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-Butanol and aqueous). The moisture content of the leaf powder was 1.70±0.01 gm and the extractive value in aqueous (25.106±1.41) was quantitatively more than that of other solvents. The presence of carbohydrates, phenolic substances, alkaloids, gummy materials, tannins, flavonoids, saponins were revealed by phytochemical studies. The n-Butanol fraction of hydro-ethanolic decoction of leaf powder showed 360±0.01 mg GAE/gdry weight for TPC and 680±0.26 mg RE/g dry weight for TFC. The lowest IC50 value for DPPH was observed in n–Butanol fraction of hydro-ethanolic extract of leaf powder extract having 246.826±17.14 µg/ml, showing the highest free radical scavenging activity.