Antioxidative Activity of Ethanol Extracts from Different Parts of Taraxacum officinale

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate antioxidative and physiological activities of ethanol extracts from different parts (flower, leaf, root, and the whole plant) of Taraxacum officinale. The ethanol extracts from different parts were measured to examine total flavonoids content, total polyphenol content, electron donating ability, superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity, nitrite-scavenging ability and tyrosinase inhibition effects. Total flavonoids content in leaf extract (41.66 mg/g) and total polyphenol content in flower extract (71.91 mg/g) were higher than those of other parts. All assays were conducted at concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1 mg/mL ethanol extracts. The electron donating abilities of leaf, flower, the whole plant, and root extracts were 92.25%, 88.18%, 84.55% and 83.40%, respectively, at a concentration of 1 mg/mL. The activities were concentration dependent. The SOD-like activity of ethanol extracts from different parts was 8.40～11.20% at a concentration of 1 mg/mL. The nitrite-scavenging abilities of flower and leaf extracts measured at pH 1.2 were 47.37% and 47.18%, respectively, at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, which were higher than those of the whole plant and root extracts. Tyrosinase inhibition activity of the leaf extract at a concentration of 1 mg/mL was the highest (34.22%) and that of the whole plant and root extracts was shown to be more than 20%. These results suggest that ethanol extracts from different parts of Taraxacum officinale could be used as antioxidative functional food sources.Key words: Taraxacum officinale, total flavonoids, total polyphenols, antioxidative activity, tyrosinase inhibition † Corresponding author. E-mail: ckc@hallym.ac.kr † Phone: 82-33-248-2131, Fax: 82-33-256-9450 Ethanol extractContents (mg/g) .