Indian Journal of Experimental Biology

Abstract

Mentha piperita L., as an aromatic culinary herb and a source of variety of phytochemicals including effective antioxidants, is overexploited by food industry. It demands rapid conservation by means of in vitro propagation of improved clones. Here, we have made an attempt to evaluate and augment the antioxidative potential of M. piperita L. by additing a precursor to the tissue culture derived clones and compared it with the in vivo plants so that tissue culture derived plants can serve as an alternative source of drug. M. piperita L. were analyzed for total phenol, flavonoids, total antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidase activity. Total phenol content in in vivo plants was lesser than in in vitro. In case of total flavonoid content, it also varies through the season where tissue culture derived plants showed similar and continuous production of total flavonoids content. The percentage inhibition of the in vitro plant extract of precursor fed clone was higher than that of in vivo plant extract. Antioxidant capacity of ascorbic acid was used as a reference standard from which plant extracts with potential antioxidant activity were compared. After addition of precursor, the in vitro mint plant proved more efficient in inhibiting lipid peroxidation after one hour than the in vivo plant, which has high absorbance value indicating lipid peroxide formation.