Antioxidant activity of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, a novel foodstuff

Abstract

The potential antioxidant activities of different fractions from methanolic extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza (S. miltiorrhiza) Bunge were assayed in vitro. All of the fractions exception of n-hexane and H2O showed a strong antioxidant activity, especially, the ethylacetate (EtOAc) fraction, which showed the highest 1,1-dipheny1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity (IC50=12.12 mu g/mL). The results of 2,2'-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay showed the concentration-dependency and the EtOAc fraction appeared a better result than the other fractions at the same concentration in this studies. And, when the total phenolic contents of fractions were measured, the EtOAc fraction contained the highest level. Meanwhile, correlation analysis indicated a high correlation between the antiradical activity and the total phenolic contents. Additionally, its EtOAc fraction was not induced the DNA damage in mouse lymphoma cells. It suggests that fractions obtained from the methanolic extract of S. miltiorriza Bunge have wide potential for use as sources of antioxidant material.