Abstract
Sempervivum tectorum L. is an evergreen plant belonging to a large family of the Crassulaceae. The fresh juice of the plant is used as a folk remedy almost exclusively for external purposes. The combination of several instrumental methods—transmission and fluorescence spectroscopy, ICP-MS spectrometry, and assays for the assessment of antioxidant activities were used for the characterization of water-ethanolic extracts from the leaves of Sempervivum tectorum L. with different polarities (ethanol content in the extracts varied between 10% and 95%). The highest total phenolic content was found in the 50% ethanol extract—0.84 ± 0.08 mg GAE/mL. Furthermore, this extract also possessed the highest antioxidant potential evaluated by DPPH and FRAP assays—7.02 ± 0.71 mM TE/mL and 6.15 ± 0.25 mM TE/mL, respectively. High correlation coefficients were found between the total phenolic contents and the antioxidant activities of water-ethanolic extracts from Sempervivum tectorum L. The same is true for the strong relationship between the phenolic contents and the concentrations of Na and K. Most likely, the bioavailable species of elements such as Fe, Zn, Ca, and Mg are mostly aqueous soluble. For all the studied extracts, the toxic element (As, Cd, Pb, Tl, Hg) contents are very much below the permissible limits for pharmaceutical products. On the contrary, the concentrations of compounds such as β-carotene and chlorophyll increase with the increase in ethanol in the extract. Results from this study may be used for the preliminary prognosis of pharmaceutical applications of extracts from Sempervivum tectorum L.
Highlights
Egypt, Iran, China, and India have known about and applied the healing properties of some plants for more than 3000 years
Two methods evaluated the antioxidant activities of extracts: DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging ability assay based on mixed hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay based only on a single electron transfer mechanism
The antioxidant activity of the 50% ethanol extract was mainly due to the high level of total phenolic content in this extract. 50% ethanol extracts of Sempervivum tectorum could be successfully used for food and pharmaceutical purposes due to the safety of the solvent and as it is rich in polyphenols
Summary
Iran, China, and India have known about and applied the healing properties of some plants for more than 3000 years. Ancient scientists (Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Avicenna, and many others) have described the herbs used in their time. The first records of the use of regional herbs date back to the time of Theophrastus. “On. Medicines”, Dioscorides, the most famous pharmacologist of antiquity, describes the herbs used by the Thracians [1]. It is known that medicinal plants are a valuable source for making medicines. Many of the medicinal plants are the basis for obtaining nutritional supplements to reduce the action of free radicals and reduce oxidative stress in living cells [2,3,4]. Aromatic and other biologically active substances are extracted from many herbs [5,6,7]
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