Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit or delay the oxidation process by blocking the initiation or propagation of oxidizing chain reactions. Antioxidants can interfere with the oxidation process by reacting with free radicals, chelating metals and also by acting as oxygen scavenger. Antioxidants are of interest for the treatment of many kinds of cellular degeneration. Recent investigations have shown that the antioxidant properties of plants could be correlated with oxidative stress defence and different human diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, alzheimer’s disease, down’s syndrome, parkinson’s disease, hepatic damage etc. Restrictions on the use of synthetic antioxidants are being imposed because of their hepatotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Thus the interest in natural antioxidants has been increased considerably. Especially India being a wealthy land of medicinal herbs and since only 5% of plant kingdom has been investigated it becomes essential to explore the medicinal value of herbs. Traditional herbal medicines form an important part of the healthcare system of India. Ayurveda, supposed to be the oldest medical system in the world, provides potential leads to find active and therapeutically useful compounds from plants. Plants have developed an array of defense strategies (antioxidant system) to cope up with oxidative stress. The antioxidative system includes both enzymatic and non-enzymatic systems. The non enzymatic system includes ascorbic acid (vitamin C); α-tocopherol, cartenes etc. and enzymic system include superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) etc. The function of this antioxidant system is to scavenge the toxic radicals produced during oxidative stress and thus help the plants to survive through such conditions. Many Indian plants have been investigated for their beneficial use as antioxidants or source of antioxidants using presently available experimental techniques. The present review deals with an exclusive list of such plants based on information collected from various literatures dealing with herbs found in India having antioxidant property.
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