Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Dendrocalamus hamiltonii has been widely used as a traditional remedy for several  ailments in India and Taiwan. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate biomembrane  lipids, carbohydrate, DNA damage, biochemical constitutes and in vitro antioxidant activity  of aqueous, methanolic and acetone leaf extracts of D. hamiltonii. This study shows that  methanol was the most effective solvent to extract phenolic (595.22±0.06 mg GAE/g), flavonoids (827.20±0.01 mg QE/g), flavonols (9.41±0.14 mg QE/g) and proanthocynidin (233.58±0.02 mg Cathechin equivalent/g) compounds as compared to water and acetone. Ferric reducing antioxidant power was comparatively higher for methanolic extract than  the other two solvents. Therefore, methanolic extract was considered for further studies.  Our findings showed that extract at 30 and 80 mg/mL significantly (P<0.05) protected 65 %, 66% of the lipid peroxidation in liver homogenate, respectively. However, the extract alleviated partially the DNA and carbohydrate damage. This is perhaps the first report to provide evidence that the leaf of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii is a potential source of natural antioxidants. The protective mechanism can be partially correlated to the radical scavenging property of  D. hamiltonii.