A comparative study of antioxidant activity in some Korean medicinal plant used as food materials

Abstract

The antioxidant properties of ten Korean medicinal plants were analyzed using various antioxidant assays, including their ability to scavenge the DPPH free radical, ABTS radical, superoxide anion, and nitrite, and their reducing powers. The contents of total phenolic compounds and flavonoids were also determined. Of the ten plants, Ulmus pumila L. (UP) and Rubus coreanus Miq. (RC) possessed strong antioxidant activity for all models tested. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) for DPPH free radicals of UP and RC was 4.16 and 4.87 mu g/mL, respectively. The IC50 for superoxide anion of UP and RC was 145.7 and 136.3 mu g/mL, respectively. In addition, the ABTS radical scavenging activity of these materials was higher than that of Trolox. The total phenol content of UP and RC was also significantly higher than in the other herbs. UP had the highest flavonoid content of the ten materials. A correlation was observed between the antioxidant activity and total phenol content.