Antioxidant Potential of Aqueous Plant Extracts Assessed by the Cellular Antioxidant Activity Assay
[1]
Cecilia Bender, Istituto Kurz italia S.R.L.. Via Calzolari, 61. 43126 - Parma, Italy.
[2]
Sara Graziano, Istituto Kurz italia S.R.L.. Via Calzolari, 61. 43126 - Parma, Italy.
[3]
Benno F. Zimmerman, Institut Prof. Dr. Georg kurz GmbH. Eupener Straße 161. 50933 - Cologne, Germany.
[4]
Helmut H. Weidlich, Institut Prof. Dr. Georg kurz GmbH. Eupener Straße 161. 50933 - Cologne, Germany.
Several teas and herbal infusions are asserted as health promoters due to their content in antioxidant compounds. However the chemical methods of analysis to assess the antioxidants content do not give information regarding the biological activity of the studied substances. In the present study eight medicinal plants (3 C. Sinensis, R. Canina, Menta Piperita, S. Officinalis, I. Paraguariensis and C. Arabica, C. Robusta blend) as well as various antioxidant compounds naturally contained in these plants were screened to their antioxidant capacities, through chemical and cellular assays. Such medicinal plants were selected due to their wide utilization, both as infusions and as ingredients in cosmetics products and in food formulations. The main purpose was to assess their biological antioxidative capability measured in human cells, to assess their efficiency of protection against peroxyl radicals under physiological conditions, and later predict their in vivo activity. The plant extracts and antioxidant compounds here tested were found to be successfully absorbed, at different proportions, into human cells. However a lack of correlation between the chemical assay and the cell-based assay was observed. Care should be taken when assessing the antioxidant power with purely chemical methods. Unlike chemical assays, cell-based assays better reflect the complexity of in vivo models, considering some important aspects of uptake, cellular distribution and metabolism of the antioxidants in a cellular environment, and thus could sustain the research on antioxidants prior to animal studies or clinical trials.
Cellular Antioxidant Activity, Epithelial Cells, Medicinal Plants, ORAC, Plant Extracts
[1]
Barreira J, Morais AL, Ferreira ICFR, Oliveira M. 2013. Insights on the formulation of herbal beverages with medicinal claims according with their antioxidant properties. Molecules 18: 2851-2863.
[2]
Boukamp P, Petrussevska RT, Breitkreutz D, Hornung J, Markham A, Fusenig NE. 1988. Normal keratinization in a spontaneously immortalized aneuploid human keratinocyte cell line. J Cell Bio 106: 761-771.
[3]
Bracesco N, Sanchez AG, Contreras V, Menini T, Gugliucci A. 2011. Recent advances on Ilex paraguariensis research: minireview. J Ethnopharmacol 136: 378-384.
[4]
Brown MD. 1999. Green tea (Camellia sinensis) extract and its possible role in the prevention of cancer. Altern Med Rev 4: 360-70.
[5]
Bupesh G, Amutha C, Nandagopal S, Ganeshkumar A, Sureshkumar P, Murali KS. 2007. Antibacterial activity of Mentha piperita L. (peppermint) from leaf extracts – a medicinal plant. Acta agriculturae Slovenica 89: 73-79.
[6]
Cao G, Alesio HM, Cutler RG. 1993. Oxigen-radical absorbance capacity assay for antioxidants. Free Radical Biol Med 14: 303-311.
[7]
Chacko SM, Thambi PT, Kuttan R, Nishigaki I . 2010. Beneficial effects of green tea: a literature review. Chin Med 5: 13.
[8]
Chrubasik C, Roufogalis BD, Müller-Ladner U, Chrubasik S. 2008. A systematic review on the Rosa canina effect and efficacy profiles. Phytother Res 22: 725-733.
[9]
Elmann A, Telerman A, Erlank H, Mordechay S, Rindner M, Ofir R, Kashman Y. 2013. Protective and antioxidant effects of a chalconoid from Pulicaria incisa on brain astrocytes. Oxid Med Cell Longev Article ID 694398.
[10]
Friedman M. 2007. Overview of antibacterial, antitoxin, antiviral, and antifungal activities of tea flavonoids and teas. Mol Nutr Food Res 51: 116–134.
[11]
Gao H, Long Y, Jiang X, Liu Z, Wang D, Zhao Y, Li D, Sun BL. 2013. Beneficial effects of Yerba Mate tea (Ilex paraguariensis) on hyperlipidemia in high-fat-fed hamsters. Exp Gerontol 48: 572-578.
[12]
Gawlik M, Czajka A. 2007. The effect of green, black and white tea on the level of alpha and gamma tocopherols in free radical-induced oxidative damage of human red blood cells. Acta Pol Pharm 64: 159-164.
[13]
González A, Abad T, Jiménez I, Ravelo A. 1987. A first study of antibacterial activity of diterpenes isolated from some Salvia species. Biochem Syst Ecol 17: 293–296.
[14]
Gupta J, Siddique YH, Beg T, Ara G, Afzal M. 2008. A Review on the Beneficial Effects of Tea Polyphenols on Human Health. Int J Pharmacol 4: 314-338.
[15]
Heck CI, de Mejia EG. 2007. Yerba mate Tea (Ilex paraguariensis): A comprehensive review on chemistry, health Implications, and technological considerations. J Food Sci 72: R138-151.
[16]
Leung LK, Su Y, Chen R, Zhang Z, Huang Y, Chen ZY. 2001. Theaflavins in black tea and catechins in green tea are equally effective antioxidants. J Nutr Sep 131: 2248-2251.
[17]
Lobato R, Matsumoto T, Mendonça S, Moura de Oliveira D, Souza MF, Markowicz Bastos DH. 2009. Effects of Maté Tea Intake on ex Vivo LDL Peroxidation Induced by Three Different Pathways. Nutrients 1: 18–29.
[18]
Lopez-Alarcon C, Denicola A. 2013. Evaluating the antioxidant capacity of natural products: A review on chemical and cellular-based assays. Anal Chim Acta 763: 1-10.
[19]
McKay DL, Blumberg JB. 2006. A review of the bioactivity and potential health benefits of peppermint tea (Mentha piperita L.). Phytother Res 20: 619-633.
[20]
Olsen EK, Hansen E, Isaksson J, Andersen JH. 2013. Cellular antioxidant effect of four bromophenols from the red algae, Vertebrata lanosa. Mar Drugs 11: 2769-2784.
[21]
Pardo de Santayana M, Blanco E, Morales R. 2005. Plants known as té in Spain: an ethno-pharmaco-botanical review. J Ethnopharmacol 98: 1-19.
[22]
Roman I, Stănilă A, Stănilă S. 2013. Bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of Rosa canina L. biotypes from spontaneous flora of Transylvania. Chem Cent J 7: 73.
[23]
Sharafi SM, Rasooli I, Owlia P, Taghizadeh M, Darvish S, Astaneh A. 2010. Protective effects of bioactive phytochemicals from Mentha piperita with multiple health potentials. Pharmacogn Mag 6: 147-53.
[24]
Sharma V, Rao LJ. 2009. A thought on the biological activities of black tea. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 49: 379-404.
[25]
Suzuki Y, Miyoshi N, Isemura M. Health-promoting effects of green tea. 2012. Proc Jpn Acad Ser B Phys Biol Sci 88: 88-101.
[26]
Tunnicliffe JM, Shearer J. 2008. Coffee, glucose homeostasis, and insulin resistance: physiological mechanisms and mediators. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 33: 1290-1300.
[27]
VanderJagt TJ, Ghattas R, VanderJagt DJ, Crossey M, Glew RH. 2002. Comparison of the total antioxidant content of 30 widely used medicinal plants of New Mexico. Life Sci 70: 1035-1040.
[28]
Vladimir-Knežević S, Blažeković B, Kindl M, Vladić J, Lower-Nedza AD, Brantner AH. 2014. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory, antioxidant and phytochemical properties of selected medicinal plants of the lamiaceae family. Molecules 19: 767-782.
[29]
Wang Y, Ho CT. J. 2009. Polyphenolic Chemistry of Tea and Coffee: A Century of Progress. Agric Food Chem 57: 8109–8114.
[30]
Wolfe KL, Liu RH. 2007. Cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay for assessing antioxidants, foods and dietary supplements. J Agric Food Chem 55: 8896-8907.
[31]
Wolfe KL, Liu RH. 2008. Structure-Activity relationships of flavonoids in the cellular antioxidant activity assay. J Agric Food Chem 56: 8404-8411.
[32]
Zhao BL, Li XJ, He RG, Cheng SJ, Xin WJ. 1989. Scavenging effect of extracts of green tea and natural antioxidants on active oxygen radicals. Cell Biophys 14: 175-185.
