Comparative Antioxidant Potential and Bioactivity of Maize (Zea mays) Ear Tissues from Different Genotypes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of maize (Zea mays L.) in diabetic patients in vitro. Three varieties (Golden, Sultan and Agatti: 85) were used to study the level of antioxidants and bio-molecules. Results showed that maize ears parts of all three varieties were more effective inhibitor in the oxidation process. Variety Golden silks was found to contain abundant activity of protease (22488 units/g f.wt.), α-amylase (390 units /g f.wt.), total sugar contents (307 mg/g f.wt.), and nonreducing sugar (288 mg/g f.wt.), and husks were rich in reducing sugar contents (16.9 mg/g f.wt.), and grains (kernels) in (15 mg/g f.wt.) protein content. Variety Sultan silks contained total phenolic content (38100 µM/g f.wt.), husk contained peroxidase activity (88655 U/g f.wt.), and grains manifested catalase (555 U/g f.wt.) activity. In varietyAgatti85 a highest activity of superoxide dismutase (292 U/g f.wt.) and malondialdehyde content (35 µM/g f.wt.) was recorded in silks. The findings of this research showed that maize probably inhibits the reaction of oxidation and decreases the complications occurring in diabetes mellitus. It was concluded that performed active parameters (total phenolics, SOD, peroxidase, catalase) may be responsible for higher antioxidant activity, which can be successfully used to reduce the extent of diabetes in the patients.

A Preliminary Up-To-Date Review on Pakistani Medicinal Plants with Potential Antioxidant Activity

“…Phenolic compounds can also be extracted from corn silk extract of Zea mays and these constituents possess great antioxidant activity in nature 147 . Various researchers 68,69,70 documented the antioxidant potential of Z. mays from Pakistan. An inquiry on corn silk from Multan Pakistan showed worthy phytochemical composition with a robust antioxidant activity.…”

“…Maize hinders the oxidation reaction and decreases diabetes mellitus complications. The total phenolics content, SOD, peroxidase and catalase are the indicators for higher antioxidant activity in decreasing obstructions in diabetic patients 70 .…”

Compositional and free radical scavenging properties ofZea maysfemale inflorescences (maize silks) from Mexican maize landraces

“…These blue grains were reported with a polyphenol content of 12.8 g GAE kg −1 (Urias-Lugo, Heredia, Serna-Saldivar, Muy-Rangel, & Valdez-Torres, 2015) which was somewhat lower than we observed in the red silks of the same race (Table 3). According to other authors, the silks accumulate more polyphenols than other parts of the corn plant like the husks, rachis or even the grains of the maize cob (Dong et al, 2014;Shahzadi, Sheikh, Hameed, Jamil, & Ur-Rehman, 2015). White maize is the most cultivated race (or hybrid varieties) in Mexico (Kato-Yamakake et al, 2009), therefore, their silks are most used as herbal medicine.…”