Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of plants used in traditional Romanian herbal medicine

Abstract

A number of herbal plants from Romania widely used as natural food additives or for health promotion in traditional medicine were investigated for their antioxidant activity. Methanol extracts were obtained from plants belonging to the Lamiaceae family (lavender Lavandula angustifolia L.; lemon balm Melissa officinalis; sage Salvia officinalis; oregano Origanum vulgare L.; rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis L.; thyme Thymus vulgaris L.; mullein Verbascum phlomoides; mint Mentha longifolia), Clusiaceae family (St John’s wort Hypericum perforatum L.), and Compositae family (elecampane Inula helenium). Total phenolic concentration was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu phenol reagent method, while total flavonoids were measured using the aluminium chloride colorimetric method. Relationships between total antioxidant activity and composition of plant extracts were evaluated. Origanum vulgare extract showed the highest antioxidant activity and total phenolic content compared to the other plants extracts. A positive correlation was observed between total antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of the analyzed extracts.

Antioxidant, anti-collagenase and anti-elastase activities of Phyllanthus emblica, Manilkara zapota and silymarin: an in vitro comparative study for anti-aging applications

“…The present study revealed a new alternative potent antioxidant for anti-aging application. This finding is in accordance with the findings of Spiridon et al (2011) andFloegel et al (2011) presenting a linear correlation between phenolic content and DPPH scavenging activity. Samples with high content of phenolic compound tend to express high DPPH scavenging activity.…”

Antioxidant properties and effect on lactic acid bacterial growth of spice extracts

“…Babovic, Djilas, Jadranin, Vajs, Ivanovic, Petrovic, and Zizovic (2010) reported that rosemary, sage and thyme extracts obtained by fluid extraction with carbon dioxide demonstrated high DPPH radical scavenging activity in comparison to hyssop extract. Spiridon, Bodirlau and Teaca (2011) showed that extracts from Origanum vulgare, Lavandula angustifolia and Melissa officinalis demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity of all plants tested in their study. The presence of phenolic compounds, especially flavonoids and caffeic acid derivatives, in nettle extract was found to influence its antioxidant effect although significantly less so than plants from the Lamiaceae family (Pinelli et al, 2008).…”

Polyphenols in northern Hungarian Mentha longifolia (L.) L. treatedwith ultrasonic extraction for potential oenological uses

“…Regarding Europe, ML is less known, contrary to its abundance; instead of it other Mentha taxa are widely used. Nevertheless, increasing interest in ML and its constituents, extractability, processing, bioactivity, and potential food or phytotherapeutic uses is observable in publications from Poland (Bertoli et al, 2011;Hawrył et al, 2015), Serbia (Mimica-Dukić et al, 1999;Stanislavljević et al, 2012), Romania (Spiridon et al, 2011;Benedec et al, 2013), and Slovakia (Fialová and Tekel' ová, 2008). Most of these samples are wild-grown, but in Poland experiments are also done with in vitro, callus, and garden cultures (Bertoli et al, 2011).…”