Ginkgo Biloba Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Ginkgo Biloba, including details on ginkgo biloba, herbal remedies, side effects, benefits.

Evaluation of antioxidant activity of Brazilian plants.

Silva CG, Herdeiro RS, Mathias CJ, Panek AD, Silveira CS, Rodrigues VP, Rennó MN, Falcão DQ, Cerqueira DM, Minto AB, Nogueira FL, Quaresma CH, Silva JF, Menezes FS, Eleutherio EC

Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, UFRJ, 21949-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

In this work, 22 alcoholic extracts, obtained from 14 species of plants belonging to four families, used for different food and medicinal purposes in Brazil, were evaluated for their capacity to inhibit the reduction of the free radical, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and to protect Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, an eukaryotic cell model, against the lethal oxidative stress caused by tert-butylhydroperoxide (TBH). Five extracts, two from Lamiaceae family (ethanol and butanol extracts from aerial parts of Hyptis fasciculata) and three from Palmae family (Copernicia cerifera leaves and mesocarp of fruits and the endocarp/mesocarp of fruits from Orbignya speciosa) were able to increase the tolerance of S. cerevisiae to TBH and showed to be active as DPPH radical scavengers, thus indicating that these plant extracts could be considered as potential sources of antioxidants. With the exception of ethanol extract of H. fasciculata, the remainder four extracts exhibited a DPPH radical scavenging activity higher than that obtained from Ginkgo biloba, a reference plant with well documented antioxidant activity. Interestingly, the ethanol extract of G. biloba were not effective for yeast cell protection, reinforcing the antioxidant potential of these extracts.

Published 19 July 2005 in Pharmacol Res, 52(3): 229-33.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Ginkgo Biloba Research Today. All Rights Reserved.