DPPH Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Some Fabaceae Lindl. Species

Abstract

Searching for new plant raw material with antioxidant activity still is actual. This study was aimed to evaluate the antioxidant potential of selected plants from Fabaceae: Coronilla varia L., Desmodium canadensis D.C., Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Lathyrus grandiflorus Sibth. & Smith, Lespedeza bicolor Turcz., Onobrychis arenaria (Kit.) D.C., O. grandis Lip., Trifolium ambiguum Bieb., T. pannonicum Jacq., T. rubens L. cv. Skif-1 at the flowering stage.

Raw was collected from the experimental collections of M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine (NBG) in the stage of flowering. Determination of the antioxidant activity of investigated plants conducted by DPPH free radical scavenging activity according to Brand-Williams et al. (1995). In this case, 1 g of dried and milled plant raw extracted in methanol and water in volume 25 ml. The optical density of the empty radical’s solution and radical’s solution with plant extracts (after 10 min in the dark) measured using the spectrophotometer Unico 2800 (Russia) at the wavelength of 515 nm. Results were expressed in % of inhibition.

The total antioxidant activity of plant whole above-ground part of methanol extracts was from 62.78 (Coronilla varia) to 89.99 (Glycyrrhiza glabra) % and water extracts from 51.28 (Onobrychis grandis) to 90.35 (Lespedeza bicolor) %. Leaf extracts exhibited DPPH scavenging activity in methanol extracts from 63.17 (Trifolium ambiguum) to 93.08 (Onobrychis arenaria) % and water extracts from 57.62 (Coronilla varia) to 95.36 (Lathyrus grandiflorus) %. Stem extracts of investigated plants showed inhibition in methanol extracts from 35.04 (Coronilla varia) to 90.51 (Glycyrrhiza glabra) % and water extracts from 20.35 (Coronilla varia) to 77.52 (Lathyrus grandiflorus) %.

DPPH scavenging activity of these plants depended on species and part of plants. Thus, plants from Fabaceae family are a potential source of antioxidant activity that can be used for deep pharmacological investigations for food science.