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Article ADS CAS PubMed Google Scholar. Mena, P. Phytochemical characterisation for industrial use of pomegranate Punica granatum L. cultivars grown in Spain. Download references.

Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, CITAB, University de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, , Vila Real, Portugal. Chemistry Centre-Vila Real, CQ-VR, UTAD, , Vila Real, Portugal.

Department of Chemistry, School of Life Sciences and Environment, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, , Vila Real, Portugal. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. carried out data analysis, wrote the manuscript, and participated in all experimental measurements.

developed and performed the chromatographic analysis. supervised botanical identification and sample collection. conceived all experiments, performed theoretical calculations, and supervised data analysis and interpretation.

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Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature. nature scientific reports articles article. Download PDF. Subjects Biochemistry Chemistry. Abstract Plants with medicinal properties play an increasingly important role in food and pharmaceutical industries for their functions on disease prevention and treatment.

Introduction The recent development of functional foods and pharmaceutical products based on medicinal and food namely fruits and vegetables plants has brought improvements to all aspects of life, including the alleviation of physical disorders, the reduction in the use of synthetic antibiotics, and the increase in life expectancy 1 , 2.

Results and discussion Phenolic content of tested medicinal and food plants Results of colorimetric and spectrophotometric analysis of seven medicinal and food plants were showed in Table 1. Table 1 Phenolic content and antioxidant activity of hydro-methanolic extracts of the studied medicinal and food plants.

Full size table. Figure 1. Full size image. Conclusions The level of different phenolic classes, antioxidant capacities and the phenolic profiles of seven medicinal and food plants were evaluated and correlated, including the leaves of sage, rosemary, olive, and pomegranate, as well as the leaves and young stems of rue, peppermint, and parsley.

Plant materials From about one-hundred common medicinal and food plants reported in literature references, we have selected seven medicinal and food plants Table S1 in this study according to following criteria: 1 higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity, 2 lower or inexistent toxicity.

Preparation of plant phenolic extracts The sample powder of each species was weighed and extracted in triplicate with 40 mg of dry weight DW. Content of different phenolic classes The content of total phenols, ortho -diphenols, and flavonoids was determined by colorimetric and spectrophotometric approaches according to the literature Evaluation of in vitro antioxidant activity The antioxidant activity of sample extracts was determined by ABTS, DPPH and FRAP ferric reducing antioxidant power spectrophotometric methods, reported by Mena et al.

Chromatographic analysis of phenolic compounds Reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector RP-HPLC-DAD system Thermo Finnigan, San Diego, CA, USA was carried out to determine the poly phenolic profile of each plant extract, as previously described Data and statistical analysis All the measurements of phenolic phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of the plant extracts were conducted in triplicate.

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Barros Chemistry Centre-Vila Real, CQ-VR, UTAD, , Vila Real, Portugal João Rocha Department of Chemistry, School of Life Sciences and Environment, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, , Vila Real, Portugal Ana I. Barros Authors Manyou Yu View author publications.

View author publications. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information. Supplementary Information 1. Supplementary Information 2. Rights and permissions Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4. About this article. Cite this article Yu, M.

Copy to clipboard. This article is cited by Rheological characteristics of wheat flour fortified with Musaceae flours and physicochemical properties of layered flat-bread Parotta K.

Ashwath Kumar Crassina Kasar P. Prabhasankar Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization Microwave Assisted Extraction of Polyphenols from Pithecellobium dulce Benth Fruit Peels and Evaluation of its Anticancer and Antioxidant Activity Selvakumar Murugesan Prakash Maran Ronaldo Anuf Alexander Waste and Biomass Valorization Natural flavonols: actions, mechanisms, and potential therapeutic utility for various diseases Aar Rafi Mahmud Tanzila Ismail Ema Md.

Comments By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. About the journal Open Access Fees and Funding About Scientific Reports Contact Journal policies Calls for Papers Guide to referees Editor's Choice Journal highlights. These fruits of Cocculus hirsutus L Diels was extracted with acidified methanol and used for phytochemicals and antioxidant activity analysis This compound possess beneficial health properties like antioxidant activity, free radical scavengers, protective effect against cardiovascular diseases, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenesis properties.

Some fruits are good source of natural antioxidants including carotenoids, vitamins, phenols, flavonoids, dietary glucothionine and endogeneous metabolites and high level antioxidant capacity against free radical species, superoxide radicals, hydrogen peroxides, nitric oxide and hydroxy radicals.

These natural anti-oxidant activities of fruits induce reduction of disease in human, protein against tourn development Swathi D, et al. Chemical constituents: Benincasa hispida fruits contains volatile oils, flavonoids, glycosides, sacchrides, proteins, carotenes, vitamins, minerals, β-sitosterin and uronic acid Al-Snafi AE, Medical and antioxidant properties: It is used for gastrointestinal problems, respiratory disease, heart diseases, diabetes mellitus and urinary diseases.

Fruits were traditionally used as a laxative, diuretic, tonic, aphrodisiac, cardiotonic, jaundice, dyspepsia, fever and mental disorders.

It shows antioxidant, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiasthmatic, diuretic, nephroprotective, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic and antimicrobial effects Figure The total phenolic content CSF denotes the antioxidant activity whereas DPPH and ABTS denote scavenging activity.

The ethanolic extract gives the highest ethanolic content and antioxidant activity Samad NB, et al. Chemical constituents: It consists of vitamins and bioactive secondary metabolite. The presence of bioactive constituents comprises alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, tannins.

The medicinal plants contained ascorbic acid, riboflavin, thiamine, and niacin Yu CX, et al. Medicinal and antioxidant property: The extract of S. asper is applied to wounds and boils.

The leaves and roots of the plant are used in indigestion and as a febrifuge, while its roots act as a vermifuge.

Its stems are given as a tonic and sedative. Antioxidant activities including scavenging effects and iron-chelating activities have been reported. The plants of this genus show in vitro antioxidants potential. The biological assays revealed diverse antioxidant effects for the tested extracts Xia DZ, et al.

In recent years, the search for non-toxic natural compounds with anti-oxidant and anti-hyperlipidemic characteristics has intensified. Many plant species have antioxidant properties comparable to synthetic anti-oxidants such as Butylated Hydroxytoluene BHT and BHA , which are currently used as food additives.

We present a comprehensive profile of 11 medicinal herbs about their antioxidant activity. India is emporium of herbal medicinal plants. The antioxidant properties of some potent anti-oxidant are listed above which provides a glimpse on plants. This article is expected to be helpful in future studies concerning in vivo and in vitro studies for clinical and surgical studies.

We would like to thank our principal and faculties of Bapuji Pharmacy College, Shamanur Road, S. Lay-out, Davanagere, Karnataka, India. Received: Jun Accepted: Jul Published: Jul, DOI: Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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ARTICLE TOOLS Abstract How to cite this article. Review Article - Volume 13, Issue 7. View PDF Download PDF. Keywords Medicinal plants, Antioxidant property, Pharmacological activities.

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Most Downloaded. Royen Fruit Peel: A Phytochemical and Pharmacological Review Karle Pravin P, Dhawale Shashikant C SRP. For each experiment, the mixture without HRP was used as a blank, while the mixture without the tested sample was used as a control.

Finally, an IC 50 value was estimated to compare the RSC of the different herb decoctions. The superoxide anion radical scavenging ability of the herb decoctions was assessed using the method of Gülçin et al 20 with some modifications The system of PMS, NADH and NBT was used for the generation of superoxide radicals.

Briefly, µl NBT µM , µl NADH µM and 50 µl of the tested samples at various concentrations were added to a test tube containing µl Tris-HCl buffer 16 mM, pH 8.

The reaction began following the addition of µl of PMS 60 µM to the mixture. A vigorous vortex followed, as well as a 5-min incubation at room temperature. In each experiment, a sample without PMS and the tested sample was used as a blank, while a sample without the sample was used as a control.

The superoxide anion RSC of the tested samples was calculated using the equation described above. Eventually, an IC 50 value was estimated to compare the radical scavenging efficiency of the different herb decoctions.

The reducing power capacity was determined according to the method described in the study by Yen and Duh 21 with minor modifications Briefly, 50 µl of the tested samples at different concentrations were mixed with µl of phosphate buffer 0.

The reaction mixture was placed in a dry bath incubator at 50˚C for 20 min. The samples were then placed on ice for an additional 5 min. Subsequently, µl of the supernatant were transferred to new test tubes and µl dH 2 O and 50 µl ferric chloride 0.

The mixtures were incubated at room temperature for 10 min. An AU 0. The assay was performed using a procedure previously described 22 with some modifications as reported by Priftis et al It should be noted that a negative control consisting of plasmid DNA and PBS, and a positive control containing plasmid DNA, PBS and AAPH were also used.

Subsequently, 3 µl loading buffer bromophenol blue 0. The samples ran at 80 V for 55 min. The acquisition of images was achieved using a MultiImage Light Cabinet Alpha Innotech Corporation.

Finally, the Alpha View suite was used to analyze the UV exposed gels. Additionally, S control represents the percentage of the supercoiled DNA in the negative control.

An IC 50 value was determined to compare the efficacy of different herb decoctions against the peroxyl radical-induced DNA damage. Following the cell-free based assays and the characterization of the antioxidant properties of the tested herb decoctions, the four most potent herb decoction extracts were assessed for their cytotoxic and intracellular antioxidant properties in the EA.

hy cell line. hy is a stable human endothelial cell line derived by hybridizing human umbilical vein endothelial cells, namely human umbilical vein endothelial cells HUVECs , with the A human lung carcinoma cells. According to the international guidelines on good cell culture practice 24 , the cell line used was checked for mycoplasma using PCR and it was mycoplasma-free.

Briefly, 10 4 cells were seeded into a well plate with their respective complete medium. Following a h incubation, the cells were treated with increasing concentrations of the Epirus herb decoctions in serum-free medium for an additional 24 h. Subsequently, 50 µl of the XTT test solution were prepared by mixing 50 µl XTT-labeling reagent with 1 µl XTT activator, and 50 µl of the XTT test solution were added to each well.

Following a 4-h incubation, the optical density was measured at and nm reference wavelength using a microplate reader Bio-Tek ELx; Bio-Tek Instruments, Inc. Cell cultures in serum-free medium were used as a negative control.

Moreover, the absorbance of every tested sample concentration alone in serum-free medium and XTT test solution was also measured at nm using a plate reader EL; BioTek Instruments, Inc.

The absorbance values that were obtained in wells that contained only herb decoctions extracts were subtracted from the ones that acquired from wells that contained the respective extract concentration and seeded cells. All experiments were carried out in duplicate and at least on two separate occasions.

The culture medium was then removed and replaced with serum-free medium containing the herb decoction extracts tested at different concentrations.

Following a h incubation, the cells were trypsinized, collected and washed twice following consecutive centrifugations at x g for 10 min at 5˚C. After each centrifugation the supernatant was discarded, and the cellular pellet was resuspended in PBS.

The fluorescent mercury orange binds directly to GSH, whereas DCF-DA is deacetylated by esterases within the cells, and is further converted to fluorescent DCF by the oxidative action of ROS.

A µM stock solution of mercury orange was created in acetone and stored at 4˚C, while a fresh µM stock solution of DCF-DA was prepared in methanol. Following incubation, the cells were washed with PBS to remove the excess dye, centrifuged x g, 10 min, 4˚C and resuspended in PBS.

The cells were then submitted to flow cytometric analysis using a FACSCalibur flow cytometer BD Biosciences with excitation and emission length at and nm for ROS, and at and nm for GSH.

Forward angle and right-angle light scattering representable of the cells size and cell internal complexity, respectively, were measured.

Data were analyzed using BD Cell Quest software 6. Each experiment was repeated at least three times. For in vitro cell-free based assays, an IC 50 or AU 0.

Each experiment was conducted in triplicate and on two separate occasions. As regards the cell culture experiments, duplicates of the cell replicate and two separate occasions were used.

Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's tests for multiple pairwise comparisons, using the statistical package SPSS version Initially, the TPC of all the herb decoction extracts, that were supplied to us by Epirus local producers, was determined.

According to the results, the highest polyphenolic content was observed in the sage extract Salvia officinalis ; code John's wort Hypericum perforatum ; codes 4 and 19 , rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis ; code 45 , spearmint Mentha spicata , code 28 , hawthorn Crataegus monogyna , code 23 , garden thyme Thymus vulgaris ; code 40 , ironwort Sideritis scardica ; code 2 , lemon beebrush Aloysia citrodora ; code 18 and pennyroyal Mentha pulegium , code 14 Table I.

Total phenolic content, IC50 and AU0. Among these, lemon beebrush Aloysia citrodora ; code 18 , perforate St. John's wort Hypericum perforatum ; code 4 , and rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis ; code 45 were also rich in phenol content, as described above.

In the superoxide assay, the extract that was derived from sage Salvia officinalis ; code 13 displayed the highest efficacy 6. Even though the sage extracts from different producers had a high polyphenolic content, their efficacy to scavenge superoxide anion was diminished. Subsequently, basil Ocimum basilicum , The extract that exhibited the highest reducing power capacity was the one derived from lemon beebrush Aloysia citrodora ; code 18, 3.

Subsequently, an increased reducing power was exerted by both garden thyme Thymus vulgaris ; 4 and 6. More specifically, the garden thyme extract with code 40 was one of the highly enriched in polyphenol extracts among the ones we tested.

All extracts that derived from oregano had robust reducing power capacity ranging from 5. Furthermore, three out of the four sage extracts and all three lemon balm Melissa officinalis ; codes 8, 21 and 22 extracts exhibited an almost similar reducing power capacity 6.

Four of the extracts that displayed the highest cell-free antioxidant capacity in the methods tested were screened using the EA. hy cells for cytotoxicity and antioxidant-related parameters. More specifically, oregano Origanum vulgare ; code 46 , sage Salvia officinalis ; code 13 , lemon beebrush Aloysia citrodora ; code 18 and rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis ; code 32 extracts were the ones that were selected for more elaborate analysis for the determination of their in vitro cell-based antioxidant ability.

Initially, the authors wished to examine whether these four extracts exerted any cytotoxic effects. For this purpose, XTT cell proliferation assay was performed using EA.

hy cells. The Origanum vulgare decoction extract exhibited an IC 50 value of Finally, Rosmarinus officinalis decoction extract had an IC 50 value of hy cells, as assessed using XTT assay.

All symbols indicate the concentrations of the Epirus herb decoction extracts. Subsequently, the present study examined whether sublethal concentrations of the herb decoction extracts were able to alter the intracellular levels of GSH and ROS, since they both play crucial roles in physiology, particularly in cells with a cancerous profile.

The sublethal concentrations of all four herbs decoction extracts were unable to affect the ROS levels as compared with the control group Figs. On the contrary, three herb decoction extracts were able to decrease the GSH levels in the already intracellular distorted cancerous physiology in comparison with the control group.

The same effect was evident in treatments with lemon beebrush decoction extracts Aloysia citrodora , in which all concentrations tested reduced the intracellular GSH levels significantly. On the contrary, all concentrations tested from rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis decoction extract did not affect the GSH levels.

Effects of Origanum vulgare, Salvia officinalis, Aloysia citrodora and Rosmarinus officinalis decoction extracts on ROS levels in EA.

hy cells after 24 h. ROS, reactive oxygen species. Effects of Origanum vulgare, Salvia officinalis, Aloysia citrodora and Rosmarinus officinalis decoction extracts on GSH levels in EA. GSH, glutathione. The present study aimed to determine the redox-related properties of well-known and routinely used herb decoctions derived from Epirus region, Greece, predominantly for their extensive use in everyday life, their integral part in human diet, and eventually for their potential exploitation as chemopreventive agents.

The results suggest the potent antioxidant activity of Epirus medicinal and aromatic herbs. The range of the TPC in the tested decoctions was from 0. These levels differ compared to those in previous studies 26 , 27 , a discrepancy that may be attributed to the different extraction protocols, solvents, different microenvironment and cultivation processes used.

Phenolic acids are a subclass of phenolic compounds, widely spread throughout the plant kingdom. In the present study, considerable variation was detected in phenolic compounds content among the different herb species.

The high level of diversity and complexity of the natural mixtures of phenolic compounds that are present in herb decoctions render difficult to characterize every compound, elucidate its structure, and attribute its activity. Of note, further studies are required to identify the major groups and important aglycones of the phenolic compounds, allowing us to associate their presence with their enhanced activity like we have done in our previous study Nonetheless, several medical herbs have been studied and to some extent their phenolic chemistry is known The potent antioxidant potential that the polyphenolic compounds of the herb decoctions possess is a manifestation that has been already reported The chemical structure and type of the compounds, the level of substrate oxidation and the conditions of the oxidation process, constitute parameters that affect their activity These compounds consist of a hydroxyl group and play a major role in the antioxidant capacity because of their ability to release hydrogen and to form stable radical intermediates.

Moreover, the mechanism of their action mainly comprises neutralization of free radicals, enzyme induction and chelation of metal ions.

The experiments performed in the present study clearly indicated that the extracts of Origanum vulgare, Salvia officinalis, Rosmarinus officinalis and Aloysia citrodora possessed a potent antioxidant potential and may be stronger radical scavengers than the other tested Epirus herbs.

Given the fact that the aforementioned assays use both organic and water-based solvents, they allow for the evaluation if the antioxidant effect of both lipophilic and hydrophilic polyphenols 32 , Even though the oregano Origanum vulgare decoction extract exhibited a potent scavenging ability against superoxide radical, the highest efficiency was achieved by the sage Salvia officinalis decoction extract.

Flavonoids contained in this herb extract have also been previously reported for their effectiveness against superoxide anions 34 , that have been proven to harm cellular components 35 , predominantly lipids, as they are involved in initiation of the lipid peroxidation process Lemon beebrush Aloysia citrodora exhibitd the highest reducing power capacity among herbs tested, serving as a significant indicator of its potential antioxidant activity.

The reducing capacity composes a distinct mechanism by which antioxidants exert their activity together with chain initiation, decomposition of peroxides, reducing capacity and radical scavenging A previous study also suggested that the ability of plant-derived decoctions to act as reducing agents and free radical scavengers or as quenchers of singlet oxygen formation was probably attributed to their potent antioxidant effectiveness in vitro In consonance, some authors have ascertained the fact that phenolic compounds are able to chelate metal ions and report that intracellular binding of iron is responsible for the protection offered by flavonoids against H 2 O 2 -induced DNA damage DNA damage, as defined by strand breakage in response to oxidative stress, was most effectively inhibited with the rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis decoction extract.

The results obtained herein correspond with those of other studies examining the antioxidant properties of the medicinal and aromatic herbs Origanum vulgare , Aloysia citrodora, Salvia officinalis and Rosmarinus officinalis.

Taken together, their beneficial properties have been basically attributed to their major chemical compounds, such as carvacrol, thymol, diterpenes and carnosol In particular, Origanum vulgare extract exhibits antioxidant and antibacterial activities, mostly attributed to its carvacrol and thymol content 41 , Furthermore, the antioxidant potential of Aloysia citrodora was evaluated in several scientific studies that have demonstrated the strong activity of this plant 43 , Additionally, decoctions derived from organ shoots and hairy roots and undifferentiated cell and callus cultures of Salvia officinalis , as well as from shoots and roots of in vitro regenerated plants, as well its chemical components, were evaluated for their antioxidant properties using several in vitro models 45 , The beneficial effects of this plant herb have been attributed to its main chemical constituents, including diterpenes, carnosol and carnosic acid, as well as to its essential oil components In the global literature, there is a constant debate as to the plant herb biologically active substances that can affect the activity and metabolism of cells.

Cell-free methodologies are able to provide valuable preamble data concerning their efficacy; however, cell-based in vitro experiments are also used to minimize the mechanistic limitations of protocols using cell-free systems.

Using cell lines integrates a spectrum of protective mechanisms represented by a shield of important cellular molecules against oxidants toxic effects that cell-free methodologies do not contain and examine. Hence, in the present study, the four decoction extracts that exhibited the most potent antioxidant activity in cell-free methodologies Origanum vulgare, Salvia officinalis, Aloysia citrodora and Rosmarinus officinalis were examined for their redox-related properties using human endothelial EA.

The high energy demand of cancer cells, and concomitantly, their intense metabolic rates lead to abundant ROS production in the cellular environment, derived primarily from the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum. Albeit the continuous and elevated ROS levels can result in the death of normal cells, through the induction of oxidative stress, the high rate of ROS generation in cancer cells is compensated by the equally high activation of the respective antioxidant mechanisms Considering that the nuclear transcriptional factor, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 NRF2 , enhances cell survival under oxidative stress conditions, its overactivation enables cancer cells to take advantage over the normal ones In the case that the elevated levels of ROS cannot be alleviated, the cancer cells are vulnerable to cell death mediated by oxidative stress In this context, strategies related to intracellular ROS generation or target endogenous antioxidant mechanisms have been tested as potential anticancer therapies 50 , As regards the polyphenol activity, it is known that these molecules exert a biphasic effect; at low concentrations, they act as antioxidants, whereas at high concentrations, they promote elevated oxidation that results in cytotoxicity To address the above, the present study evaluated the cytotoxicity exerted by the four most potent decoction extracts in order to determine the effects of non-cytotoxic concentrations of these on the intracellular GSH and ROS levels.

The assessment of the effects of the extracts on the antioxidant capacity of endothelial cells was based on the measurement of the GSH and ROS levels using flow cytometry. The regulation of intracellular GSH levels following extract treatment is crucial, since GSH is considered a significant endogenous antioxidant molecule in cells GSH can directly scavenge free radicals by donating one hydrogen atom from its sulfhydryl group or is used as substrate by antioxidant enzymes For endothelial cells in particular, GSH is important not only as an antioxidant, but also as a crucial regulator of cell signaling 54 , Endothelial cells as part of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment play a critical role in inflammatory processes, since the secretion of endothelial mitogens and chemotactic factors driven by endothelial cells, stimulates their proliferation and angiogenesis Endothelial cells release growth and survival factors such as IL-6 to protect tumor cells Consequently, the dependence of tumor growth and expansion to new blood vessels formed by proliferating endothelial cells warrants investigation.

The latter implies the need for the examination of strategies targeting the functions of tumor endothelial cells as key players in angiogenic processes Therefore, the assessment of the mechanisms through which medicinal herbs affect molecular pathways that regulate the GSH and ROS levels in the EA.

hy cell line may be of utmost importance. It has been previously described that carvacrol and thymol are the components considered responsible for the antioxidant activity of the essential oil of oregano 59 , It was reported that carvacrol increases ROS and depletes GSH levels in two distinct human cell lines.

In line with the above results, carvacrol has been reported to induce ROS levels in V79 cells 61 and to reduce the levels of antioxidant enzymes catalase CAT and superoxide dismutase SOD in HL human acute promyelocytic leukemia cells and Jurkat human T lymphocyte cells cells It is possible that their antitumor activity does not rely on the increase of intracellular ROS levels, but on the elevation of the difference between the GSH and ROS levels 63 , rendering cells vulnerable to the already increased ROS levels due to their cancerous phenotype Salvia officinalis may exert its cytotoxic effect in a similar manner to oregano.

A previous study that investigated the effect of Salvia chloroleuca reported that was able to induce the apoptosis of MCF-7 human breast cells through a ROS-mediated pathway The results of the present study and the previous one 65 are contradictory to data from previous literature that reported that HepG2 cells pre-treated with the Salvia officinalis extract formed less oxidant-induced DNA lesions Although Kozics et al 66 proposed that the observed DNA-protective activity could be explained by both the elevation of glutathione peroxidase GPx activity in the pre-treated cells, as well as to its well documented in vitro antioxidant activity, their finding of an elevated GPx activity may justify the decrease levels of GSH found in the present study.

Previously, Salvia officinalis was reported to decrease peripheral inflammation that may support blood brain barrier function and cerebral blood flow, contributing to longer-term benefits towards cognitive health in older adults

Correlation between DPPH free radical scavenging activity and total flavonoid content in: B water extracts and D ethanol extracts. For example, V. coloratum , H. diffusa , L. japonicus , A. paniculata and P. lactiflora have displayed high antioxidant activity in both water and ethanol extracts, but contained low levels of phenolics and flavonoids.

Similar findings were recently reported by the authors in a separate publication [ 6 ]. These observations demonstrate that, in addition to polyphenols, other constituents such as trace metals contribute to the antioxidant activities of medicinal plants.

For instance, V. This is in agreement with the literature that Zn and Mg play crucial role in antioxidant mechanisms [ 51 — 53 ]. Similarly, H. paniculata showed good antioxidant activity with high levels of Zn, Mg, Mn and Se. In many organisms, trace metals have been shown to act as co-factors of several antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase SOD , peroxidases POD , ascorbate peroxidase APX and other enzymes of ascorbate — glutathione pathway [ 54 ].

Therefore, the results obtained in this study strongly support trace metal involvement in antioxidant mechanisms. It is therefore hypothesized that the medicinal herbs display their antioxidant activities due to the combination of their total phenolics, flavonoids and the trace metal contents.

A brief description of this visualization scheme is given below. A diagrammatic visualization scheme for the correlation of antioxidant activities and antioxidant content.

A Plants with high Antioxidant activity: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 26, 31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, and 43; B Plants with high antioxidant activity and also contain significant antioxidant constituents: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 26, 31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, and 43; C Plants with medium to high Phenolic content: 6, 13, 16, 20, 31, 33, 34, 41, 42, and 43; D Plants with medium to high Flavonoid content: 1, 4, 6, 8, 13, 16, 20, 29, 31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 41, 42, and 43; E Plants with medium to high Trace metal content: 2, 5, 10, 14, 15, 18, 23, 26, 27, 28, 31, 34, 37, 39, 40, 41, and Overlaps between antioxidant content circles C, D, E and antioxidant activity circle B represent the activities with respect to the corresponding constituents.

Some of the plants exhibit their activity due to the presence of all of the three antioxidant constituents phenolics, flavonoids or trace metals.

For instance, the plants R. rubescens , S. suberectus and U. These findings further support the hypothesis that the medicinal herbs display their antioxidant activities due to the combination of their total phenolics, flavonoids and the trace metal contents.

It may be concluded from the above visualization scheme that the activities of 26 out of the 28 active plants could be explained in terms of their antioxidant content.

Two of the plants, namely, C. paniculatum and P. One of the reasons for this non-correlation is likely to be due to the fact that some of the polyphenols may be extremely active owing to their structural characteristics even if they are present in smaller quantities [ 1 ].

Other reason includes the occurrence of antioxidant constituents such as polysaccharides that are not investigated in this study. Several studies demonstrated that botanical polysaccharides possess strong antioxidant activities [ 55 — 57 ].

For instance, S. officinalis , D. indica , P. suffuticosa , U. Bioactive molecules isolated in the literature from some of these plants showed significant anti-inflammatory properties [ 58 , 59 ]. For example, Sanguiin H-6 and H isolated from S.

officinalis has decreased the expression levels of iNOS [ 58 ]. Rhyncophylline and isorhyncophylline are isomeric alkaloids from U. rhyncophylla showed inhibition activity against the NO production and proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-1β production in LPS induced mouse N9 microglial cells [ 59 ].

Forty-four selected medicinal plants have been investigated in this study for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Amongst these plants, two distinct groups have been identified in terms of the correlation of antioxidant activities and their antioxidant contents.

The observed biological activities of all the plants including those in the second group, could clearly be explained when trace metal content was considered together with polyphenols content.

Amongst all the selected plants, L. miltiorrhiza, S. suberectus, T. farfara and U. rhyncophylla showed significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities with very low toxic effects.

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Int Immunopharm. Download references. School of Science and Health, Locked Bag , Penrith South DC, NSW, , Australia. Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, Locked Bag , Penrith South DC, NSW, , Australia.

School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag , Penrith South DC, NSW, , Australia. School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, , Australia. CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, , India.

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Sundar Rao Koyyalamudi. ASR, LZ, KS, MJU and MS have performed the experiments and analysis. ASR and LZ have contributed to the manuscript preparation.

SRK and NR have designed the study, contributed to the analysis, critically evaluated the paper and provided the final manuscript. SJ helped with the preparation samples. PTS, BV, GM and JB have contributed to the manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. Reprints and permissions. Ravipati, A. et al. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of selected Chinese medicinal plants and their relation with antioxidant content.

BMC Complement Altern Med 12 , Download citation. Received : 11 January Accepted : 20 September Published : 06 October Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. Abstract Background The 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.

Methods The antioxidant activities were investigated using DPPH radical scavenging method and yeast model. Results Results 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.

Conclusions The results indicate that the phenolics, flavonoids and trace metals play an important role in the antioxidant activities of medicinal plants. Background It is well known that reactive oxygen species ROS , such as superoxide anion O 2 ·- , hydroxyl radicals OH · , singlet oxygen 1 O 2 and hydrogen peroxide H 2 O 2 , play a major role in the development of oxidative stress that can lead to many illnesses including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, inflammation, degenerative diseases, cancer, anemia, and ischemia [ 1 ].

Methods Plant materials The dried plant materials were obtained from Beijing Tong Ren Tang Chinese Herbal Medicine shop, Sydney, Australia. Table 1 List of Chinese medicinal herbs used in this study Full size table. Results and discussion Total phenolics and flavonoids content in the selected plants The total phenolics and flavonoids content of selected 44 herbal extracts were measured using F-C reagent and aluminium chloride methods respectively.

Table 2 The total phenolics and flavonoids content together with DPPH free radical scavenging activities of ethanol and water extracts of plant material, and the antioxidant activity against yeast oxidative stress Full size table. Table 3 The trace metal content of water extracts of selected medicinal plants Full size table.

Table 4 Anti-inflammatory activities of water extracts of the selected plants Full size table. Table 5 The total phenolics and flavonoids content together with the antioxidant activity of fifteen medicinal plants first group of plants Full size table.

Figure 1. Full size image. Figure 2. Conclusions Forty-four selected medicinal plants have been investigated in this study for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

References Cai Y, Luo Q, Sun M, Corke H: Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer. Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Dragland S, Senoo H, Wake K, Holte K, Blomhoff R: Several culinary and medicinal herbs are important sources of dietary antioxidants.

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Regarding pomegranate leaves, some authors detected kaempferol 54 or kaempferol 3- O -glycoside 33 as the main compound in ethanolic extracts, while others found as ellagic acid The principal ellagitannins of pomegranate leaves also differed from one another, considered as granatin B 56 , or castalagin derivative 33 , or undefined galloy-HHDP derivatives This difference may be induced by varieties, phenology, and growing conditions.

In our study, the potent antioxidant capacity of pomegranate leaves was highly correlated with the content of tannins, which can be considered as the key antioxidant contributors of this plant material.

However, the chemical structures of the tentatively identified ellagitannins were not determined, and studies on these constituents are also incomplete. Therefore, it is important to note although this is a preliminary study to provide a baseline of data for future investigations, a major limitation is that identified phyto-constituents were neither isolated, nor separately analyzed for their bioactivities.

Moreover, the association between these compounds and antioxidant effect of pomegranate leaf is yet to be well understood. In this regard, it is necessary to further characterize the structure of these less-exploited phenolics tannins and their associated biological properties within pomegranate leaf.

Hence, the results presented in our study confirm pomegranate leaf as a promising natural alternative in the development of antioxidant products, thereby assisting in the prevention and treatment of some diseases.

The level of different phenolic classes, antioxidant capacities and the phenolic profiles of seven medicinal and food plants were evaluated and correlated, including the leaves of sage, rosemary, olive, and pomegranate, as well as the leaves and young stems of rue, peppermint, and parsley.

This study compared and demonstrated these plant extracts as valuable sources of bioactive compounds, likely for preparing novel functional products in various industries. High correlations of phenolic composition with antioxidant potential were investigated in our analysis. Different kinds of phenolic acids and flavonoids along with their derivatives were found widespread in the studied plant materials.

Phenylethanoids especially oleuropein and its derivatives were characterized as the most abundant constituents of olive leaf extracts, probably contributing to its beneficial biological properties.

While tannins particularly ellagitannins were supposed to be the main contributor to the features of pomegranate leaf. Interestingly, our results highlighted that the hydro-methanolic extracts of Punica granatum L. pomegranate leaves displayed the greatest levels of free radical scavenging capacity and ferric reducing antioxidant power, as well as the highest contents of total phenols, ortho -diphenols and tannins; a relatively high content of flavonoids was also found.

Studies have increasingly evidenced the close association of tannins and less-studied compounds with antioxidant activity in medicinal and food plants 12 , 18 , 19 , 26 , Thus it is expected that richer phenolic types, namely tannins and phenolic glycosides, and their higher concentrations, are maintained in pomegranate leaves, making it possible to explore active ingredients and bioavailable products in the food-pharm, nutraceutical or cosmeceutical industries.

Moreover, only a limited number of researches have pointed out the comparison of biological activities and phenolic components of the tested plant organs, which belong to tree plants or shrub plants with large or small leaves.

Many authors have stated the importance of vegetables, fruits, medicinal and aromatic plants in the current dietary patterns 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 29 , 30 , Extracts of olive leaves have attracted more attention recently, being reviewed as promising cheap, renewable and plenty source of bio-phenols for by-products.

Some articles proved pomegranate leaf as a safe substrate due to its lower or inexistent toxicity 17 , In addition, ellagitannins as effective ingredients in teas are considered to be more abundant in the large-leaf tree than those from the small-leaf tree 61 , Therefore, as per olive leaf, research into finding new uses for by-products of pomegranate leaf may be proved as a strong argument for not only promoting human health but also improving bio-valorization and environment.

However, samples of pomegranate leaves were not collected from different varieties or different seasons. Hence, studies on these issues would be of much interest in the future, in order to select the most promising matrix of the wasted bio-phenol materials. Louis, MO, USA.

Chromatography solvents were of RP-HPLC-DAD grade according to the analysis performed. Ultrapure water was obtained using a Water Purification System Arioso Power, Human Corporation, Seoul, Korea. From about one-hundred common medicinal and food plants reported in literature references, we have selected seven medicinal and food plants Table S1 in this study according to following criteria: 1 higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity, 2 lower or inexistent toxicity.

Plant species were botanically authenticated by Prof. António Crespí Department of Biology and Environment, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Portugal and Dr. João Rocha Chemistry Centre-Vila Real, UTAD, Portugal.

Thus, a mixture sample for each species was obtained and used for the subsequent analysis. Experimental research and field studies on plants either cultivated or wild , including the collection of plant material have complied with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation.

The sample powder of each species was weighed and extracted in triplicate with 40 mg of dry weight DW. The extraction was performed by agitating 30 min, rpm, RT the mixture of the powder and 1.

The supernatants were collected in a 5 mL volumetric flask, and the solid residues were then extracted twice via the same procedure. All the three supernatants from successive extractions were kept together and the final volume came to 5 mL with the above-mentioned extraction solvent.

The content of total phenols, ortho -diphenols, and flavonoids was determined by colorimetric and spectrophotometric approaches according to the literature The content of tannins was evaluated by the methyl cellulose MC methodology previously reported by Dambergs et al.

The mixture was stood for 15 min at RT, protected from light, before the absorbance at nm was read. The content was quantified using gallic acid as standard.

Afterwards, μL of sodium hydroxide 1 M was added and the final mixture was read at nm after agitation for 30 s in a microplate reader. The above-mentioned assays were undertaken with a microplate reader Multiskan FC Microplate Photometer, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vantaa, Finland in well microplates PrimeSurface MSMZ, Frilabo, Maia, Portugal with a final volume of µL.

The content of tannins was evaluated both in treatment and control groups simultaneously, by adding μL of methyl cellulose MC solution treatment or water control to μL of sample in a 2 mL Eppendorf.

The mixture was stirred manually for 2—3 min at RT. Four hundred μL of saturated ammonium sulfate and μL of water were added successively both in the treatment and control groups until 2 mL of total volume was reached. The final mixture was vortexed and kept for 10 min.

The absorbance of tannins was obtained by subtracting the treatment absorbance from the value registered from the control, using epicatechin as standard. The antioxidant activity of sample extracts was determined by ABTS, DPPH and FRAP ferric reducing antioxidant power spectrophotometric methods, reported by Mena et al.

Subsequently, μL of ABTS working solution and 12 μL of sample dilutions water used as blank were mixed and reacted for 30 min at RT, and then the absorbance was read at nm.

The DPPH radicals 8. The FRAP working solution was prepared by mixing volume acetate buffer mM, pH 3. The three antioxidant assays were adapted to microscale using well microplates PrimeSurface MSMZ, Frilabo, Maia, Portugal and microplate readers Multiskan GO Microplate Photometer, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vantaa, Finland , using Trolox as standard.

Reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector RP-HPLC-DAD system Thermo Finnigan, San Diego, CA, USA was carried out to determine the poly phenolic profile of each plant extract, as previously described The analysis equipment is composed of three parts, including LC pump Surveyor , autosampler Surveyor , and PDA detector Surveyor.

Sample extracts, in triplicate, and 31 pure standard compounds all in HPLC grade , including 17 phenolic acids, 10 flavonoids, 2 phenylethanoids and 2 stilbenoids, were prepared and filtered through 0. The injection volume was 20 μL and the flow rate was kept at 1. Peaks were monitored at and nm, and identified by congruent retention time compared with standards.

Data acquisition, peak integration and analysis were performed using Chromeleon software Version 7. All the measurements of phenolic phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of the plant extracts were conducted in triplicate.

Pearson r analysis was carried out to establish correlations between phenolic chemical classes and antioxidant activity.

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Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, CITAB, University de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, , Vila Real, Portugal. Chemistry Centre-Vila Real, CQ-VR, UTAD, , Vila Real, Portugal.

Department of Chemistry, School of Life Sciences and Environment, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, , Vila Real, Portugal. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar.

carried out data analysis, wrote the manuscript, and participated in all experimental measurements. developed and performed the chromatographic analysis.

supervised botanical identification and sample collection. conceived all experiments, performed theoretical calculations, and supervised data analysis and interpretation. All authors reviewed the manuscript and participated in editing the manuscript.

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