Anti-oxidative Activities of Ethanol Extracts from Both Wild Plant and Suspension Cell Cultures of Rheum franzenbachii

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the content of rhaponticin and anti-oxidative activities of the ethanol extracts from both the wild plants and suspension cell cultures of Rheum franzenbachii. MethodsQuantitative analysis of rhaponticin was performed by HPLC. The anti-oxidative activities of the ethanol extracts were evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assays. ResultsThe content of rhaponticin in the roots of the wild plant was 4.36 mg/g, while the content was only 1.59 mg/g in the leaves. The content of rhaponticin in suspension cells cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BAP) and 2.0 mg/L 2,4-dicholorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) was 17.64 mg/g, which increased by 4.05 times compared with the content in the roots of the wild plants. The roots of wild plants displayed the strongest anti-oxidative activity, followed by the suspension cells 5 and 6, and the scavenging percent was 91.96%, 91.23%, and 89.27%, respectively, at the concentration of 100 μg/mL. The IC50 values were 2.477, 15.644, and 31.415 μg/mL, respectively. In particular, the DPPH scavenging activity of the ethanol extracts from the roots of the wild plant was generally comparable to the control of ascorbic acid (VC), and the IC50 value of the extracts was lower than that of VC (2.502 μg/mL). ConclusionRhaponticin production in the cell culture can be modulated and the accumulation can be increased. The roots of the wild plant display the strongest anti-oxidative activity. These results suggest that R. franzenbachii could hold a good potential source for human health.