Comparison of Measurements of Antioxidant Activity in the Selected Leafy Vegetables Depending on Extraction Solvent

Abstract

Four leafy vegetable species, spinach (Spinacia oleracea), amaranthus (Amaranthus viridis), fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) and bathua (Chenopodium album), were extracted with three different solvents (80% ethanol, 80% acetone and water) for maximum recovery of phenol and antioxidant compounds in the extract. The results of extraction were compared with extraction from moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaves that is known as a very rich source of antioxidants. The study showed that, it is very difficult to justify a single solvent for extraction of antioxidant compounds from different plants. Results from different solvents used for extracting the bioactive compounds mostly depend on the type of compound extracted (polar/medium polar/non-polar) present in leafy matrices. Here, 80% acetone extract showed highest total phenol content in moringa leaves but the overall antioxidant activity in the leaves of four vegetables was observed to be better after extraction with 80% ethanol. Nevertheless, in most assays, independent of solvent used for extraction, the moringa leaves were the richest source of polyphenols and antioxidants.

In vitro lipoxygenase and hemolysis inhibition by polyphenolic antioxidants from tropical green leafy vegetables

“…The antioxidant property of spring onions at 68.8-83.1% was similar to that reported in our study (Issa et al, 2013) al., 2015). The ABTS radical scavenging of the ethanolic extract in our study is comparable with the reported values (Jaiswal et al, 2017); however, they observed more antioxidant capacity in the water extract than in the ethanolic extract for fenugreek and Amaranthus. This is contrary to our findings.…”

“…Phenolics and flavonoids were extracted efficiently (P<0.001) by 70% ethanol than by water in 9 GLVs out of the eleven. Similar changes in efficiencies were reported by Akula and Odhav (2008) and Jaiswal et al (2017) in water and ethanol extraction. There are considerable differences in the total phenolic content being reported across the literature.…”

“…Ethanolic extracts showed significantly higher DPPH radical scavenging properties than water extracts. A similar pattern of variation was observed in African GLVs (Akula and Odhav, 2008) and Indian GLVs (Jaiswal et al, 2017).…”

Sangiovese cv Pomace Seeds Extract-Fortified Kefir Exerts Anti-Inflammatory Activity in an In Vitro Model of Intestinal Epithelium Using Caco-2 Cells

“…However, the scavenging activity recorded in the aqueous environment appears more than three times higher compared to the organic one. Otherwise, literature data confirmed that ABTS assay represents more accurately the antioxidant capacity of vegetable matrices containing hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules [51]. Lack of data concerning extracts antioxidant capacity of the investigated cultivars made the comparison of the collected values with the literature analyses very difficult.…”