Formulation and Evaluation of Natural Antioxidant Cream of Ocimum basilicum

Ocimum basilicum is a cooking herb and decorative plant. In traditional medicine it is used to treat many diseases. Plant is a rich source of therapeutically active compounds. The objective of the study is to investigate the in vitro antioxidant potential and to formulate a natural antioxidant cream from methanolic extract of O. basilicum. Methanolic extract of O. basilicum was evaluated to determine free DPPH radical scavenging activity and ABTS decolorizing assay. The extracts showed significant activity in the concentration of 4 mg/mL, i.e., 39.41 % employed for DPPH assay and 90.02% following ABTS decolorizing assay. Ascorbic acid was used as standard for DPPH assay whereas Trolox was used for ABTS assay. The values calculated as AAE in mM/100 g and TEAC mM/100 g for DPPH and ABTS assay, respectively. The total phenolic content in methanolic extract of O. basilicum is 0.085 GAE/ g, while total flavonoid content is 0.131 RE/g. The formulation was evaluated for various physical and chemical tests like physical appearance, odor pH, viscosity, spreadability, antioxidant activity and SPF, which were within the acceptable limits and after subjected to accelerated studies for 3 months a stable herbal product was obtained. The formulation showed a good SPF value of 11.25 +/- 0.23.