Anti-wrinkle and Antioxidative Effects of Ethanolic Extracts of Inula Flos, Chrysanthemi Flos and Carthami Flos

Abstract

The ethanolic extracts of Inula Flos (IF), Chrysanthemi Flos (CSF) and Carthami Flos (CTF) were carried out to investigate the anti-wrinkle and antioxidative effects as part of the development of natural cosmetics materials. Total polyphenol content in CTF (134.71 mg/g) and total flavonoid content in IF (79.38 mg/g) were higher than those of other ethanolic extracts. The collagenase and elastase inhibition rate for anti-wrinkle effect showed 34.06% and 54.09% in the IF, respectively, at the concentration of 2.0 mg/mL. The tyrosinase inhibition of CTF was 19.67% at 2.0 mg/mL. IF at a concentration of 2.0 mg/mL was the highest xanthine oxidase inhibition effect of 43.81%. The electron donating ability of IF was 93.43% at 2.0 mg/mL, especially IF was over 80% at 0.1 mg/mL. In the analysis of nitrite scavenging activity, CSF (97.17%) and CTF (98.44%) showed a significantly higher effect than ascorbic acid (95.21%) at the condition of pH 1.2 and 2.0 mg/mL. At the condition of pH 3.0, CTF was 94.49% at the concentration of 2.0 mg/mL. The SOD-like activity of IF was 90.85%, and that was 4.2 times to 6.2 times greater than CSF and CTF. These results suggest that the CTF was rich in total polyphenol content and nitrite scavenging activity was better than other extracts. IF showed relatively higher effect of collagenase and elastase inhibition than the CSF and CTF ethanolic extracts, and its electron donating ability and SOD like activity were over the 90% rate. These results suggest that the IF is a potentially useful anti-wrinkle and antioxidant source for the development of functional cosmetic.