Sequential extraction with petroleum ether, chloroformethyl acetate, methanol, and water was carried out on 40 commonly used Chinese medicinal herbs. The antioxidant power of different fraction extracts was measured with both the DPPH assay and the FRAP assay. Ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene were used as two reference antioxidants. The total phenolic content of the extracts was measured by Folin-Ciocalteu method. The fraction extracts showed different antioxidant activity in the two assays; however, there was a significant positive correlation between the DPPH assay and the FRAP assay. Methanol fraction extracts generally demonstrated stronger antioxidant power and higher total phenolic content than did the others. The results suggest that Radix Sanguisorbae, Cortex cinnamomi, Herba taxilli, Semen arecae, and L., Cinnamomum cassia Presl ., Taxillus sutchuenensis (Lecomte) Danser, Areca catechu Linn. and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi contain relatively high values in antioxidant power and/or high total phenolic content. This study is the first comprehensive antioxidant activity evaluation among Chinese medicinal herbs. It demonstrates that most Chinese medicinal herbs are also useful in preventing various degenerative diseases.

BackgroundTo investigate hypoglycemic activity and elucidate the active composition of the fruit blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum).MethodsMethanol extracts of blueberry (MEB) were separated using a D101 macroporous resin column to yield quinic acid derivative (Fr.1)- and flavonoid (Fr.2)-rich fractions. The effects of the blueberry extracts on mRNA expression of GLUT-2 (glucose transporter type 2) and PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ), as well as on the activities of PPRE (peroxisome proliferator response element) and NF-κB were analyzed in LO2 normal liver cells. Real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of GLUT-2, PPARγ, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 mRNA. The PPRE and NF-κB activities were detected by a luciferase reporter assay. Western blotting was used to detect the levels of PPARγ, GLUT-2, and p65. The active compositions were isolated using various chromatography columns, and were analyzed by NMR.ResultsmRNA and protein expression of GLUT-2 and PPARγ were significantly increased upon treatment with 400 μg/mL extracts of blueberry (P<0.05). The PPRE activity was also significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner upon administration of MEB (P<0.05). Furthermore, the NF-κB activity induced by lipopolysaccharides was inhibited by MEB (P<0.05). No fraction separated from MEB exhibited PPRE activation or NF-κB inhibition activity. Blueberry extract may execute its hypoglycemic activity by stimulating expression of GLUT-2 and PPARγ, and by inhibiting the inflammatory pathway. Together, quinic acid derivatives and flavonoids may result in a synergistic effect. Fourteen phenolic acids, including eight flavonoids, four quinic acid derivatives, and two other phenolic acids, were isolated and identified, and caffeoylquinic acid derivatives and quercetin glycosides were found to be the major constituents of blueberry.ConclusionBlueberry may have hypoglycemic activity that functions through synergistic effects with caffeoylquinic acid derivatives and quercetin glycosides.

Background Currently, although Inula nervosa Wall is well investigated, little is understood about blossoms of Inula nervosa Wall (BINW). Objective In this work, we systematically investigated the antioxidant activity of the extract from BINW by various standard assays including DPPH free radical ability, ABTS• +, and FRAP. Methods Chemical compounds are tentatively identified through an UHPLC-QTOF-MS system. Furthermore, the contents of nine compounds were detected with UHPLC method coupled with PDA. By carefully analyzing the quantitative data via clusters analysis and PCA. Results 46 compounds are tentatively identified and our results showed that 9 compound samples in 21 batches of BINW collected from different areas could be differentiated and analyzed by a heatmap visualization. In addition, the contents of nine compounds (flavonoids, phenolic acids) exhibited a total of higher amounts and better antioxidant activities from Yunnan than those from other three origins. Conclusions Our study not only developed a powerful platform to explain the difference traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) species that in closely related through the chemometric and chemical profiling, but also presented a useful method to establish quality criteria of BINW with multiple origins. Highlights To detailly characterize the BINW, we not only performed DPPH, FRAP and ABTS assays to investigate its antioxidant activity, but also established UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS and UHPLC-PDA based methods to comprehensively identify and qualitatively analyze its components.