Study of Drug Target Identification and Associated Molecular Mechanisms for the Therapeutic Activity and Hair Follicle Induction of Two Ashwagandha Extracts Having Differential Withanolide Constitutions

Figure 1

Antioxidant activity and cytoprotection efficacy of ASHWITH ashwagandha (ASH-Ext1) extract: (a) DPPH assay demonstrates the antioxidant activity of ASH-Ext1 and commercial ashwagandha (ASH). Gallic acid was used as the positive control. ASH-Ext1 shows a higher percentage of antioxidant activity as compared to commercial ASH. (b) Pictorial demonstration of the color transformation of DPPH solution in the presence of antioxidant compounds. DPPH free radical upon reduction by antioxidant molecule changes color from purple to yellow. The stronger the reduction, the more intense is the color change. (c) Dose response of ASH-Ext1 and commercial ASH to HEK293 cells. (d) IC50 determination of H₂O₂ treatment for inducing oxidative stress in HEK293 cells. (e) Cytoprotection efficacy was measured by MTT assay. HEK293 cells were treated with H₂O₂ (0.4 mM) in the absence and presence of ASH-Ext1 or commercial ASH at 15 μg/ml for 24 hr. The result shows a higher percentage of viable cells in the ASH-Ext1 cotreated group in comparison with the H₂O₂-treated stressed group (P = 0.0268). (f) Reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were measured in HEK293 cells treated with H₂O₂ in the absence and presence of ASH-Ext1 or commercial ASH by DCFDA ROS assay kit. TBHP (tert-butyl hydroperoxide) was used as the positive control. Quantitative data are shown as mean ± SD (standard deviation) of three samples (N of 3). values are considered statistically significant ().

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