Evaluation of Antioxidant and Anti-α-glucosidase Activities of Various Solvent Extracts and Major Bioactive Components from the Seeds of Myristica fragrans.

Cai-Wei Li,Yi-Cheng Chu,Chun-Yi Huang,Shu-Ling Fu,Jih-Jung Chen

doi:10.3390/molecules25215198

Abstract

Myristica fragrans is a well-known species for flavoring many food products and for formulation of perfume and medicated balm. It is also used to treat indigestion, stomach ulcers, liver disorders, and, as emmenagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, nervine, and aphrodisiac. We examined antioxidant properties and bioactive compounds in various solvent extracts from the seeds of M. fragrans. Methanol, ethanol, and acetone extracts exhibited relatively strong antioxidant activities by 2,2-diphenyl-1-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)hydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), superoxide radical, and hydroxyl radical scavenging tests. Furthermore, methanol extracts also displayed significant anti-α-glucosidase activity. Examined and compared to the various solvent extracts for their chemical compositions using HPLC analysis, we isolated the ten higher content compounds and analyzed antioxidant and anti-α-glucosidase activities. Among the isolates, dehydrodiisoeugenol, malabaricone B and malabaricone C were main antioxidant components in seeds of M. fragrans. Malabaricone C exhibited stronger antioxidant capacities than others based on lower half inhibitory concentration (IC50) values in DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays, and it also showed significant inhibition of α-glucosidase. These results shown that methanol was found to be the most efficient solvent for extracting the active components from the seeds of M. fragrans, and this material is a potential good source of natural antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitor.

Highlights

It is widely known that active free radicals are produced by normal metabolism which cause oxidative damage to biomacromolecules, which include carbohydrates, membrane lipids, proteins, and DNA [1]
We investigated the Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and yields in different solvent extracts of M. fragrans
Significant differences were found in TPC among all different solvent extracts, of which methanol extract contained highest amount of TPC (107.83 ± 0.66 mg/g), followed by ethanol

Summary

Introduction

It is widely known that active free radicals are produced by normal metabolism which cause oxidative damage to biomacromolecules, which include carbohydrates, membrane lipids, proteins, and DNA [1]. To lower the oxidative damage of active free radicals, many unnatural antioxidants, such as butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), with strong antioxidant activity are proverbially applied in food industry. Recurrent discovery of potential detrimental effects, such as carcinogenesis and liver damage, by using synthetic antioxidants [2]. These evidences have raised public interest in natural antioxidants as another option. Researches on natural antioxidant have gained increasing concern [4,5,6]

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Conclusion