Sources of antioxidants from the collection from the Scientific Center of Medicinal Plants Cultivation “Nicolae Testemițanu”

Abstract

Introduction. The increasing interest in natural antioxidants particularly those extracted from medicinal plants has grown in the last few years due to several studies and publications. Purpose. The evaluation of antioxidant capacity of the medicinal plants: Agrimonia eupatoria L., Cichorium intybus L., Cynara scolymus L., Rubus fruticosus L. Hypericum perforatum L., species from the collection of the Scientific Center of Medicinal Plants Cultivation. Material and methods. The in vitro antioxidant activity of hydro-alcoholic extracts (1:10) was evaluated using: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Trolox (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8- tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid) equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), 2,2 ′ -azinobis (3- ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical and metal chelating activity. Results. Antioxidant properties of extracts of were determined by three methods, DPPH, ABTS and FRAP. Considering the obtained results, the following order in antioxidant activities was established: A. eupatoria> C. inthybus> R. frucicosus> H. perforatum> C. scolymus. Conclusions. The obtained results justify the continuation of studies, and the evaluated species from the collection of SCMPC can be considered an important local source of natural antioxidants for the pharmaceutical industry.