Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of selected Chinese medicinal plants and their relation with antioxidant content

Abstract

BackgroundThe main aim of this study is to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of forty four traditional Chinese medicinal herbal extracts and to examine these activities in relation to their antioxidant content.MethodsThe antioxidant activities were investigated using DPPH radical scavenging method and yeast model. The anti-inflammatory properties of the herbal extracts were evaluated by measuring their ability to inhibit the production of nitric oxide and TNF-α in RAW 264.7 macrophages activated by LPS and IFN- γ, respectively. The cytotoxic effects of the herbal extracts were determined by Alomar Blue assay by measuring cell viability. In order to understand the variation of antioxidant activities of herbal extracts with their antioxidant contents, the total phenolics, total flavonoids and trace metal (Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn, Se and Mo) quantities were estimated and a correlation analysis was carried out.ResultsResults of this study show that significant levels of phenolics, flavonoids and trace metal contents were found in Ligustrum lucidum, Paeonia suffuticosa, Salvia miltiorrhiza, Sanguisorba officinalis, Spatholobus suberectus, Tussilago farfara and Uncaria rhyncophylla, which correlated well with their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Some of the plants displayed high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities but contained low levels of phenolics and flavonoids. Interestingly, these plants contained significant levels of trace metals (such as Zn, Mg and Se) which are likely to be responsible for their activities.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the phenolics, flavonoids and trace metals play an important role in the antioxidant activities of medicinal plants. Many of the plants studied here have been identified as potential sources of new antioxidant compounds.

Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Eriobotrya japonica leaves extracts

“…In fact, several previous works described the importance of the biological functions of these molecules such as antioxidant 24,[30][31][32] , anti-inflammatory 33,34 , anti-atherosclerotic 35,36 , anticancer 35,37,38 and antimicrobial activities 39,40. Indeed, the ethanol-ethyl acetate (2/1) extract contains 28 mg GAE/g DW of phenolic compounds and 7 mg EQ/g DW of flavonoid contents and show an impor-1 tant antioxidant activity measured on DPPH with an IC50 of 42 µg/mL. These results are in agreement with those obtained by 41 and 24 who reported that there is a close relationship between phenolic and flavonoid content and the antioxidant activity in Eriobotrya japonica extracts.…”

Antioxidant content and cytological examination of aqueous fluid from patients with age-related cataracts at different stages

“…Large amounts of reactive oxygen species accumulate in the aqueous fluid and lenses with age; they cause SOD and GSH-PX consumption, changing the soluble proteins in the lens into insoluble proteins, which results in lens opacity (Lu and Rasco, 2012;Gupta and Ahmad, 2013). Reduced CAT weakens the antioxidant capacity of the lens epithelial cells and induces their apoptosis, which also causes cataracts (Ravipati et al, 2012;Zhu et al, 2013).…”

Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of novel 4′-fluoro-2′-hydroxy-chalcone derivatives as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents

“…Antioxidant activity screening was done in a 96-well microplate high throughput assay using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as described before 18,20 . Briefly, S. cerevisiae (BY4743) were cultured overnight then diluted to an optical density of 0.2 at 600 nm (OD600) in the media.…”