In the present study, aerial part of Centaurea calcitrapa L. were extracted with solvent of varying polarity allowed their separation into three main subfractions, the analysis of methanol crud (CrE), chloroform (ChE) and ethyl acetate (EaE) extracts, showed that the EaE contains the highest amount of flavonoids (50,71 ± 0,65 mg Eq / Quercetin g dry extract and 31,96 ± 0,39 mg Eq Rutin / g dry extract). Using DPPH assay, the highest activity was observed with EaE (IC50 = 0,037 ± 0,0006 mg / ml). The β-carotene / linoleic acid bleaching assay revealed that the extracts have a very important antioxidant activity. The results showed that CrE has the highest antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity of the CrE is confirmed by an in vivo assay in mice, using two doses: CrD1 (50 mg/kg/day) and CrD2 (100 mg/kg/day) during 21 days. Total antioxidant capacity of plasma and red blood cells was measured. The half-life (HT50), which corresponds to 50% of cell lysis was calculated, the results showed that both groups treated with plant extract had a protective effect against erythrocytes hemolysis (CrD2: HT50= 167,3 ± 3,72 min). The CrD2 group showed a strong scavenging activity using DPPH assay (51,64 ± 5,24 %), higher than that of Vit C group (38,92 ± 1,72 %). All results confirmed that the extracts have a dose dependent effect on the growth of overall antioxidant defenses. These results support the use of this plant against anti-inflammatory diseases in traditional medicine.
Keywords: Centaurea calcitrapa L., in vivo-antioxidant activity, DPPH, hemolysis, flavonoids.