Antioxidant activity of ethanol and petroleum ether extracts from Brazilian propolis

Abstract

Antioxidant activities of ethanol and petroleum ether extracts from Brazilian propolis were determined by α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging and ferric thiocyanate (FTC) methods, using α-tocopherol and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as references. The DPPH assay showed that ethanol extract possessed significantly higher activity compared with BHT and petroleum ether extract but lower than that of α-tocopherol. Results from the FTC assay indicated that the activity of ethanol extract was higher than that of α-tocopherol and petroleum ether extract but lower than BHT. Basically, this antioxidant activity was dose-dependent and ethanol extract exhibited higher activity than that of petroleum ether extract at the same concentration. Additionally, the chemical constituents of propolis were determined, and results showed that the propolis contained high content of antioxidant compositions, such as flavonoids (73.00 g kg−1), total phenolic compounds (134.40 g kg−1), and Vitamin E (0.16 g kg−1), which contributed greatly to its strong antioxidant activity.