Studies on antioxidant properties of starfish Luidia maculata (Muller & Troschel, 1842) off Parangipettai, Southeast coast of India

Objective: To investigate the antioxidant properties of starfish Luidia maculata. Methods: The crude ethanol extract was partially purified using liquid-liquid partition and size exclusion chromatography. The antioxidant properties of partially purified fractions were determined using the following methods: determination of total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging assay, hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assay and reducing power assay. Results: Among the five fractions, collected fraction 3, 4 and 5 exhibited antioxidant potential. Total phenolic content was high (360 µg GAE/g) in fraction 3. In DPPH assay, fraction 3 showed the highest IC50 value 0.27 mg/mL and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay showed the highest IC50 value of 0.07 mg/mL in fraction 5. Whereas, fraction 3 showed the highest absorbance (0.3) in reducing power assay when compared to fraction 4 and 5. Conclusions: In conclusion, the present study shows the extract of starfish Luidia maculata (F3) possesses good antioxidant activity.