Investigation of antioxidant activity of some fruit stem barks in the Eastern Black Sea Region

Abstract

Antioxidant compounds in food play an important role as a health protecting factor. Scientific evidence suggests that antioxidants reduce the risk for chronic diseases including cancer and heart disease. Primary sources of naturally occurring antioxidants are whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Antioxidant activity can be investigated by using different methods such as total antioxidant activity, hydrogen peroxide and DPPH free radical scavenging activities, metal-chelating activity, total phenolic and flavonoid contents and others. In this study, antioxidant activity of the ethanol-water extracts of three stem barks, Kiwi ( Actinidia chinensis Planch.) (AC), lemon ( Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) (CL) and chery laurel ( Laurocerasus officinalis Roem.) (LO) has been designated. According to FTC method, the total antioxidant activities (%) of AC, CL and LO have been determined as 73.35, 67.59 and 61.62, respectively. The DPPH radical scavenging activities of AC, CL, LO, BHA, RUT and TRO in terms of SC 50 values (µg/mL) were found as 50.52, 56.56, 98.18, 8.58, 17.01, 26.84, respectively. Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents in AC, CL and LO ranged from 850.71 to 457.79 µg gallic acid equivalent/g and 58.77 to 22.91 µg of catechin equivalents/g, respectively. In conclusion, the extracts of AC showed higher antioxidant activity than the other samples so needs further exploration for its effective use in pharmaceutical and medicine sectors.