t Antioxidants play an important role in inhibiting
and scavenging free radicals, thus providing protection to
human against infections and degenerative diseases. Current
research is now directed towards natural antioxidants
originated from plants due to safe therapeutics. Moringa
oleifera is used in Indian traditional medicine for a wide
range of various ailments. To understand the mechanism of
pharmacological actions, antioxidant properties of the
Moringa oleifera leaf extracts were tested in two stages of
maturity using standard in vitro models. The successive
aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera exhibited strong
scavenging effect on 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl
(DPPH) free radical, superoxide, nitric oxide radical and
inhibition of lipid per oxidation. The free radical scavenging
effect of Moringa oleifera leaf extract was comparable
with that of the reference antioxidants. The data obtained in
the present study suggests that the extracts of Moringa
oleifera both mature and tender leaves have potent
antioxidant activity against free radicals, prevent oxidative
damage to major biomolecules and afford significant
protection against oxidative damage.