Antioxidant Activity and Protective Effect of Leaf Extract from Diospyros lotus on Oxidative Stress of Red Blood Cells

Abstract

This study was to evaluate the antioxidant properties of the leaf extracts of Diospyros lotus (DLE) on the chemical-induced free radical and rat red blood cell (RBC) oxidative damage in vitro. DLE were prepared by extracting with water. DLE showed the high antioxidant activities on the scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)-induced radicals. An antioxidant activities of DLE was similar to the reference antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and (±)6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchromane-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox). Reducing power of 1,000 μg/mL DLE also was similar to the vitamin C. In RBC, oxidative hemolysis induced by the aqueous peroxyl radical generator (2,2"-Azobis (2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (AAPH)) were significantly suppressed by DLE in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, DLE prevented the depletion of cytosolic antioxidant glutathione in RBC damaged with AAPH. These results suggest that DLE may has value as natural product with its high quality antioxidant properties against oxidative stress.