COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHYTOCONSTITUTIONAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF DIFFERENT SEASONAL TEA LEAVES EXTRACTS

Abstract

^{Methanolic extract of tea leaves (Camellia sinensis Linn.) of autumn and rain collections (S}A ^{and S}R ^{respectively) were investigated for in vitro antioxidants,} antibacterial and wound healing activities to correlate with the impact of seasonal variation on phytoconstitutional content and commercial disparity. Both the ^{extracts were subjected for quantitative and qualitative analysis and different concentrations (S}A100^{, S}A200, ^SR100 ^{and S}R200^{) were investigated for in vitro} antioxidant activity performing DPPH, super oxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical scavenging assay and measurement of reductive ability. The ^{antibacterial activity of S}A ^{and S}R ^{was evaluated against eight human pathogens (two Gram positive and six Gram negative) using disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration of each was determined. The influence of S}A ^{and S}R ^{in 250 and 500 mg/Kg body wt. on rate of wound closure were} investigated using the excision wound model on female wister rats (Sprague Dawley) and histological investigations of treated and untreated wound tissues ^{were performed to observe epithelialisation, fibroblast proliferation, neovascularisation, neutrophil infiltration, and collagen deposition. The S}R ^{extract showed higher antioxidant activities compared to S}A^{. Both the extracts showed significant antibacterial activities. The topical administration of S}R500 ^caused significantly faster healing (99.05%), more epithelialisation, less neutrophils infiltration, higher deposition of collagen and better angiogenesis in wound area ^{as compared to the S}A500 ^{and standard. These results limpidly showed that the S}R ^{extract possess superior wound healing properties due to its higher anti} oxidant and better microbial spectrum coverage probably by containing sesquiterpene derivative and higher flavonoid analogues.