Free radical scavenging activity and kinetic behavior of the Galgeuntang water extract

Abstract

SUMMARY Galgeuntang water extract exhibited a strong free radical scavenging activity and reducing powerdetermination. However, a gradual increase in the free radical scavenging activity and reducingpower determination was obtained with increasing concentrations. The highest radicalscavenging activity was shown by the water extract from Galgeuntang (116.93 μg/mL) and thewater extract from Cinnamonum cassia Presl. (95.01 μg/mL). These results of phenolic andflavonoid contents of the extracts indicated that the strong radical scavenging activity of theCinnamonum cassia Presl. extract might be in part due to the phenolic compounds. The correlationcoefficient between TPC and DPPH (r 2 = 0.9312), TFC and DPPH (r 2 = 0.9677), showed positivecorrelation among total phenolic/flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity. These resultssuggest that Galgeuntang has a potential antioxidant activity. Key words: Galgeuntang; Free radical scavenging activity; Phenolic/flavonoid contents. INTRODUCTION Galgeuntang has been broadly used in traditionaloriental medicine especially in China, Republic ofKorea and Japan for its many profoundpharmacological action. It has been applied asantipyretic and diaphoretic agents (Kinjo et al.,1987). Galgeuntang is reported to relieve hypertension,migraine, and sudden deafness by improvement ofcerebral circulation (Rong et al., 1998). Today, moreand more people take plant medicine as analternative therapy. Galgeuntang is one of the mostimportant oriental crude drugs which increasescoronary artery blood flow and is used asantidiarrhetic, antiemetic, antispasmodic andantimicrobic remedy (Tang, 1992; Zhu, 1998).Galgeuntang demonstrates several interestingactivities including suppression of alcohol intakeby alcoholics reduction of blood pressure andphytoestrogenic prevention of osteoporosis (Adam,2004). We evaluated the antioxidant activity ofGalgeuntang employing various assay systems,such as free radical scavenging activity, totalphenolic and flavonoid content.