Screening of various extracts of Garcinia indica viz., leaf, seed, stem, root and fruit for UV protective activity and incorporation of extracts in sun protective formulations

Exposure to UV radiation from the sun is a major cause of sunburns, pigmentation as well as skin cancer; hence sun protecting compounds are essential commodities of life. The inorganic sun blockers viz., ZnO and TiO₂ give broad spectrum UV protection but, have the drawback of skin whitening. Organic compounds having UV protective ability both in UV A and UV B region include benzophenones. Garcinia species are known to produce different types of benzophenone like garcinol, isogarcinol, xanthochymol, isoxanthochymol, etc. In previous studies, natural benzophenones present in Garcinia indica were screened for UV protective activity. Out of various extracts of fruit rinds of G. indica, viz., aqueous, ethanolic, methanolic, water, n-butanolic, hexane and ethyl acetate were screened for UV protective activity. Initially the selected extracts were screened by spectrophotometric method. The maximum sun protective activity was found in ethyl acetate and n-butanolic extract in both UV A and UV B region. The ethyl acetate extract when incorporated in sun protective cream formulation gave SPF 3.43 and boot star rating five which indicates strong UV protective activity in the UV A region. In the present study, natural benzophenone in various parts of plant of G. indica like leaves, seeds, roots and bark were screened for UV protective activity. The extracts were also incorporated in sunscreen formulations and SPF was determined by SPF analyzer. The cumulative effect of G. indica extracts along with commercial UV protective compounds like TiO₂, benzophenone 3 and uvinul A plus was also studied.