Department of Botany

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/4383

Since establishment in 1984, the department flourished with tireless efforts of faculties, staff and students. The course curriculum of the department has always been strong and forward looking. Syllabi have been revised regularly and the latest version was done with the introduction of semester system offering five special papers, namely Cytogenetics, Microbiology, Molecular Plant pathology and Fungal Biotechnology, Plant Biochemistry and Taxonomy of Angiosperms and Biosystematics.

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    In vitro antioxidant activity of two edible Timbur fruits of Darjeeling Himalaya
    (University of North Bengal, 2010-03) Ghosal, Mitali; Mandal, Palash
    Frec radicals are implicated for many chronic, painful and near-fatal diseases including Diabetes mellitus, arthritis, cancer, apoptosis, neurodegenerative disorders etc. In treatment of these discases, antioxidant therapy has gained an utmost importance and current rescarch is now directed towards finding naturaly occurring antioxidants of plant origin. Edible Timburs namely Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC. and Litsea cubeba (Loureiro) Persoon are traditionally usced as spices in different Nepali recipes. In the present study, the fruits of these plants were extracted with aqucous methanol (1:4) to examinc the in vitro antioxidant property, phenol content and phytochemical constituents. The scavenging activities on DPPH free radicals, superoxide anions and per-oxidized lipid molecules were determined as well as the flavonoid and phenolic constitucnts of the extracts. The extracts exhibited significant scavenging activity towards DPPH free radicals and high anti-lipid peroxidation values duc to the presence of relatively high total phenol contents. Also, these spices contain a vast array of different phytochemicals in their dry form. These results suggest that both Zanthoxylum acanthopodium and Litsea cubeba fruits are endowed with antioxidant phytochemicals and could serve as basal ingredients for nutraceutical formulations.