Spectrophotometric Determination of Sun Protection Factor and Antioxidant Potential of an Herbal Mixture

Objectives: Present research work deals with the determination of hydroxyl radical scavenging potential and Sun Protection Factor of herbal mixture which was prepared by the phytochemical composition of different herbal extracts.

Materials and Methods: The herbal mixture was prepared by the composition of important herbal plant extracts such as; 50% ethanolic extract of Berberis aristata root, 30% ethanolic extract of Ficus benghalensis bark, ethanolic extract of Asparagus racemosus root, aqueous extract of Asparagus racemosus root, 30% methanolic extract of Butea monosperma flowers, gel extract of Aloe vera, 80% ethanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna bark, 80% ethanolic extract of Cyperus rotundus root, 80% ethanolic extract of Rubia cordifolia root and 50% methanolic extract of Hibiscus-rosa-sinensis flowers, which was further proceed for hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and Sun Protection Factor determination at different concentrations viz;0.5%, 1%, 5% and 10%.

Results: IC50 values of Ascorbic acid was found to be 52.93±2.64% (Inhibition TBARS) at the concentration of 18.00 µg/ml and herbal mixture were 51.58±1.27% (Inhibition TBARS) observed at the concentration of 9.80 µg/ml respectively. The SPF values for different concentrations of herbal mixture were in between 2.14±0.15SPF to 12.97±0.07SPF. The results showed that 10% concentrated of herbal mixture has high SPF value of 12.97±0.07SPF which may be attributed due to the presence of active components.

Conclusion: Herbs and herbal preparations have high potential due to their antioxidant activity, primarily. The bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, saponins etc. of this prepared herbal mixture may able to reduce skin damages which are caused due to long time exposure of skin in sun rays specially UVA and UVB rays. The proposed spectrophotometric method is simple and rapid for the in vitro determination of SPF values of sunscreens emulsions.