UTTAR PRADESH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY

Many medicinal plant extracts have been known since ancient times to possess antioxidant activity to scavenge free radicals and anti-diabetic activity to control diabetes.  In this study, seeds of Syzygium cumini were extracted in ethanol and hexane solvents.  Primary and secondary metabolites were quantified.  DPPH assay, nitric oxide scavenging (NOS) assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were employed to study antioxidant activity. α-amylase inhibitory assay (AAI), yeast glucose uptake assay (YGU) and haemoglobin glycosylation inhibitory (HGI) assays were adapted to determine anti-diabetic properties.  The results from the assays and the IC₅₀ values (18.35 µg/ml in DPPH, 943.8 µg/ml in NOS, 871.3 µg/ml in FRAP, 886 µg/ml in AAI, 764 µg/ml in YGU, and 1495.1 µg/ml in HGI assay) indicate that S. cumini seed ethanol extract has higher antioxidant and anti-diabetic efficiency than the hexane extract.  Our findings suggest that the rich phytochemical content of S. cumini seeds and its good antioxidant and anti-diabetic activity may be responsible for its popularity and wide traditional use and can be exploited to develop antioxidant and anti-diabetic drugs.