Journal of Ethnopharmacology 87 (2003) 231–236

Screening and comparison of antioxidant activity of solvent

extracts of herbal medicines used in Korea
Dae Gill Kang a , Chi keun Yun b , Ho Sub Lee a,∗
a Department of Herbal Resources, Professional Graduate School of Oriental Medicine and Medicinal Resources Research Center (MRRC),
Wonkwang University, Iksan, Jeonbuk 570-749, Republic of Korea
b Department of Health Administration, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Jeonbuk 570-749, Republic of Korea

Received 20 March 2002; received in revised form 7 April 2003; accepted 17 April 2003

Abstract

The hexane, ethylacetate, n-butanol, and water extracts of 10 Korean herbal medicines were screened and compared for their antioxidant
activities in a range of lipid peroxidation system using rat brain homogenates, antihemolysis assay of red blood cells, and other in vitro assays to
determine their ability to scavenge superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. All of the 10 Korean herbal medicines have potent antioxidant activities.
Among the four solvent extracts, the antioxidant activities of more-polar solvent extracts (BuOH and water extracts) were relatively higher
than that of non-polar solvent extracts (hexane and EtOAC extracts). These results will be useful to further analyze those herbal medicines
that contain the most antioxidant activity in order to identify the active principles.
© 2003 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Korean herbal medicines; Solvent extracts; Screening

1. Introduction and Lee, 2001). Solvent extraction is frequently used for

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydroxyl radical,
hydrogen peroxide, and superoxide anions, are produced as
byproducts in aerobic organisms, and have been implicated
in the pathology of a vast variety of human diseases includ-
ing cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetic mellitus, hypertension,
AIDS, and aging (Halliwell and Gutteridge, 1984; Wallace,
1999; Lee et al., 2000). Therefore, antioxidant activity is an
important in-view of the free radical theory of aging and as-
sociated diseases. It has long been recognized that naturally
occurring substances in higher plants have antioxidant ac-
tivity. A great number of plant origin substances have been
suggested to appear as antioxidants. Flavonoids and other
phenolic compounds of plant origin have been reported as
scavenger ROS, thus they are viewed as promising therapeu-
tic drugs for free radical pathologies (Parshad et al., 1998;
Lee et al., 2000).
The antioxidant activity of plant origin is dependent on
the type and polarity of the extracting solvent as well as on
the test system and the substrate to be protected by the an-
tioxidant (Heinonen et al., 1998; Moure et al., 2000; Kang
isolation of the antioxidants and both extraction yield and
antioxidant activity of the extracts are strongly dependent
on the solvent, due to the different antioxidant potentials
of compounds with different polarity. For these reasons,
comparative studies for selecting the optimal solvent pro-
viding maximum antioxidant activity are required for each
substrate. Although the use of different polarity substances
can provide more exhaustive information on the properties
of the extracts, the literature contains few reports of the
polarity-based solvent extraction of medicinal plants.
The present study was undertaken to perform the screen-
ing of antioxidant properties of 10 traditional medicines
grown in Korea, and we selected hexane, ethylacetate,
n-BuOH, and water as extract solvents which permits com-
parison of the antioxidant properties among the polarity-
based solvent extracts of medicinal plants.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Chemicals

Hexane, ethylacetate (EtOAC), and n-butanol (n-BuOH)

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82-63-850-6841; fax: +82-63-850-7324. were purchased from Merck (Darmstate, Germany).
E-mail address: host@wonkwang.ac.kr (H.S. Lee). Phenazine methosulfate (PMS)-␤-nicotinamide adenine

0378-8741/03/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(03)00142-9
232 D.G. Kang et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 87 (2003) 231–236

Table 1
Latin names, herbarium voucher specimen numbers, plant parts, and uses in Korea
Herbal medicines Voucher specimen numbers Plant parts Uses in Korea

Inula helenium L. DH-43 Root Antibacterial, disinsection

Astragalus membranaceus BUNGE DH-14 Root Cardiotonic, diuretic
Atratylodes koreana NAKAI DH-07 Root Sedative, hypoglycemic
Gardenia jasminoides for. Grandiflora MAKINO DH-08 Fruit Sedative, cholagogue
Magnolia liliflora DESR. DH-34 Flower Antihypertensive
Scutellaria baicalensis GEORGI DH-05 Root Antipyretic, antiallergy
Siegesbeckia orientalis L. DH-57 Whole Antihypertensive
Sinomenium acutum REHDER et WILS. DH-15 Root Analgesia, antiinflammation
Sorbus amurensis KOEHNE DH-41 Bark Expectorant
Xanthium strumarium L. DH-58 Fruit Analgesia

dinucleotide (reduced form, NADH), nitroblue tetrazolium
(NBT), l-ascorbic acid, cytochrome c, dl-dithiothreitol,
thiobarbituric acid (TBA), Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA),
and 2,2 -azo-bis-(2-amidinopropane)dihydrochloride (AAPH)
were purchased from Sigma (St. Louise, MO, USA). All
other unstated chemicals and reagents were of analytical
grade.
2.2. Plant material
All herbal medicines were purchased from a herbal mar-
ket in Iksan, Jeonbuk Province, South Korea. Dr. Kyu Kwan
Jang at the Botanical Garden of Wokwang University iden-
tified plant materials. Herbarium voucher specimens were
prepared and deposited in the herbarium of the Professional
Graduate School of Oriental Medicine, Wonkwang Univer-
sity, Iksan, Jeonbuk, South Korea (Table 1).
2.3. Extraction
For the partitioning by solvent, the Korean herbal
medicines (100 g) were air-dried at room temperature and
reduced to fine powder by milling. The resulting powder
was subjected to extraction with 200 ml of methanol, three
times, 24 h each. The methanol extract was evaporated
and resuspended in H2 O, and sequentially partitioned with
n-hexane, EtOAC, and BuOH.
2.4. Scavenging activities of superoxide radicals
Scavenging activity of superoxide radicals was deter-
mined by the Liu and Ng method (2000), which was slightly
modified by Kang and Lee (2001). Superoxide radicals were
generated in a PMS-␤-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
(reduced form, NADH) system by oxidation of NADH and
were assayed by the reduction of NBT in the microplate.
The superoxide radicals were generated in 200 ␮l of 16 mM
Tris–HCl buffer (pH 8.0), which contained 78 ␮M NADH,
50 ␮M NBT, 10 ␮M PMS and samples (10 ␮l) to be tested
at different concentrations. The color reaction between su-
peroxide radicals and NBT was detected at A560 nm using
a microplate reader (Molecular Devices, Synnyvate, CA,
USA). l-Ascorbic acid was used as a positive control. The
superoxide radical scavenging ratio (%) was calculated
using the following formula:
A − A1
Superoxide radical scavenging ratio (%) = × 100
A
where A is the absorbance of positive control, and A1 is the
absorbance of the test samples.
2.5. Scavenging activities of hydroxyl radicals
Scavenging activity of hydroxyl radicals was determined
by the Liu and Ng method (2000), which was slightly mod-
ified by Kang and Lee (2001). The hydroxyl radicals were
generated in a l-ascorbic acid–CuSO4 system by reduction
of Cu2+ and were assayed by the oxidation of cytochrome c
in the 96-well microplate. The hydroxyl radicals were gener-
ated in 200 ␮l of 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4),
containing 100 ␮M l-ascorbic acid, 100 ␮M CuSO4 , 12 ␮M
cytochrome c and the samples to be tested at different con-
centrations. The reduced cytochrome c was produced by ad-
dition of excess dl-dithiothreitol and followed by Sephadex
G-15 chromatography (bed volume, 10 ml) to remove excess
dl-dithiothreitiol. The change in absorbance caused by the
oxidation of cytochrome c was measured at 550 nm using a
microplate reader (Molecular Devices). Thiourea was used
as a positive control. The scavenging activity of hydroxyl
radical by 500 ␮g/ml of thiourea was taken as 100%. The
scavenging activity of hydroxyl radical was calculated using
the following formula:
A − A0
Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (%) = ×100
AT − A 0
where A is the absorbance of samples, and AT and A0 are
the absorbance of the thiourea and the control, respectively.
2.6. Inhibitory effects on erythrocyte hemolysis
Whole blood was obtained carefully by cannulation of
femoral artery in Sprague–Dawley rats and collected in hep-
arinized tubes. Erythrocytes were isolated from plasma by
centrifugation (1000 × g for 20 min) and washed three times
 D.G. Kang et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 87 (2003) 231–236
with 10 volumes of saline solution. Erythrocyte hemolysis
was mediated by peroxyl radicals in this assay system (Niki
et al., 1988). A 10% suspension of erythrocytes in 10 mM
of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) was added to
the same volume of 200 mM AAPH in PBS solution con-
taining samples to be tested at different concentrations. The
reaction mixture was shaken gently while being incubated
at 37 ◦ C for 2 h. The reaction mixture was then removed
by centrifugation (1000 × g for 20 min), diluted with eight
volumes of PBS and centrifuged at 1000 × g for 20 min.
The absorbance (A) of supernatant was read at 540 nm using
spectrophotometer (Milton Roy, Rochester, NY, USA). Sim-
ilarly, the reaction mixture was treated with eight volumes
of distilled water to achieve complete hemolysis, and the ab-
sorbance (B) of the supernatant obtained after centrifugation
was measured at 540 nm. The inhibition of hemolysis (%)
was calculated by the equation (1 − A/B) × 100. l-Ascorbic
acid was used as a positive control.
2.7. Inhibitory effects on lipid peroxide (LPO)
production in brain homogenates
For the in vitro studies, the brains of normal Sprague–
Dawley rats were isolated and homogenized with Polytron
homogenizer (Switzerland) in ice-cold Tris–HCl buffer
(20 mM, pH 7.4) to produce a 10% (w/v) homogenate.
The homogenate was centrifuged at 10,000 × g for 10 min.
The supernatant (0.5 ml) was incubated with the test sam-
ples in the presence of 10 ␮M FeSO4 and 0.1 mM ascor-
bic acid at 37 ◦ C for 1 h. The reaction was stopped by
addition of 0.5 ml trichloroacetic acid (TCA, 28%, w/v)
and 0.75 ml thiobarbituric acid (TBA, 1%, w/v) in suc-
cession, and the solution was then heated at 100 ◦ C for
15 min. After centrifugation to remove precipitated pro-
tein, the color of the malondialdehyde (MDA)-TBA com-
plex was detected at OD 532 nm using spectrophotometer
(Milton Roy). BHA was used as a positive control. The
inhibition ratio (%) was calculated using the following
formula:
A − A1
Inhibition ratio (%) = × 100
A
where A is the absorbance of control, and A1 is the ab-
sorbance of the test samples.
3. Results and discussion
The methanol extracts of 10 Korean herbal drugs were
divided into four fractions with different polarities by par-
titioning it in various solvents such as hexane, EtOAC,
n-BuOH, and H2 O. Then these solvent extracts were tested
for their antioxidant activity in a range of lipid peroxidation
systems using rat brain homogenates, red blood cells and
other in vitro assay to determine their ability to scavenge
ROS.
233
3.1. Scavenging effects of solvent extract on O2 •− radical
The four solvent extracts of 10 herbal medicines were
screened for their superoxide-scavenging activity in the
PMS/NADH–NBT system, and the results are shown in
Table 2. In the PMS/NADH–NBT system, superoxide an-
ion derived from dissolved oxygen by PMS/NADH cou-
pling reaction reduces NBT. The decrease of absorbance at
560 nm with antioxidants thus indicates the consumption of
superoxide anion in the reaction mixture. There was a dif-
ference in the overall scavenging ability among the extract
solvents from the 40 extracts and even among the same
species. Seven of the extracts, at 200 ␮g/ml assay, displayed
scavenging activities that were greater than 50%, while
seven extracts exhibited a nearly zero-scavenging activity
of the superoxide radical. Among them, the water extract of
Sinomenium acutum showed the highest scavenging activity
of superoxide radical in this system.
3.2. Scavenging effects of solvent extract on OH• radical
Table 3 shows the scavenging effect of solvent extracts
of 10 Korean herbal drugs on hydroxyl radicals generated
by l-ascorbic acid/CuSO4 –cytochrome c system. The hy-
droxyl radicals were generated in a l-ascorbic acid/CuSO4
system by reduction of Cu2+ and were assayed by the oxi-
dation of cytochrome c. High-scavenging activity (≥50% at
200 ␮g/ml assay) was found in the BuOH extracts of Astra-
galus membranaceus, Siegesbeckia orientalis, and Sorbus
amurensis, and EtOAC extracts of Scutellaria baicalensis
and Sinomenium acutum, and hexane extracts of Sorbus
amurensis.
3.3. Inhibitory effects on erythrocyte hemolysis
The azo compound generates few radicals by its uni-
molecular thermal decomposition. The rate of generation of
peroxyl radicals can be easily controlled and measured by
adjusting the concentration of AAPH (Miki et al., 1987).
Therefore, hemolysis induced by AAPH must provide suit-
able means for studying the oxidative erythrocyte membrane
damage by peroxyl radical attack from the outside of the
membrane (Ng et al., 2000). Of the extracts studied, BuOH
extracts of Astragalus membranaceus, Atratylodes koreana,
Magnolia liliflora, Xanthium strumarium, and Scutellaria
baicalensis, and water extracts of Gardenia jasminoides
and Sinomenium acutum, and EtOAC extracts of Scutellaria
baicalensis, tested at 100 and 200 ug/ml, markedly inhibited
erythrocyte hemolysis in this system (Table 4).
3.4. Inhibitory effects on LPO production in brain
homogenates
Quantification of MDA, one of the products of lipid
peroxidation, with TBA is the most common assay used
for determination of the rate extent of lipid peroxidation.
234 D.G. Kang et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 87 (2003) 231–236

Table 2
Effect of solvent extracts of Korean herbal medicines on superoxide radicals generated by PMS/NADH system
Samples Concentration (␮g/ml) Solvents

Hexane EtOAC n-BuOH H2 O

Inula helenium 100 7.5 ± 4.2 5.76 ± 2.3 21.7 ± 1.8 22.3 ± 0.9
200 18.2 ± 3.7 12.4 ± 2.8 31.6 ± 9.1 23.2 ± 8.3
Astragalus membranaceus 100 nz nz 20.2 ± 5.8 29.0 ± 8.0
200 nz nz 40.1 ± 6.5 33.2 ± 4.3
Atratylodes koreana 100 nz nz 38.2 ± 1.3 6.5 ± 7.0
200 nz nz 56.5 ± 3.6 13.5 ± 3.2
Gardenia jasminoides 100 17.1 ± 7.0 18.8 ± 3.5 29.8 ± 3.5 54.6 ± 0.4
200 45.1 ± 1.4 47.9 ± 3.2 44.4 ± 5.6 68.8 ± 1.2
Magnolia liliflora 100 nz 5.8 ± 1.1 27.9 ± 1.2 19.8 ± 3.6
200 nz 12.4 ± 2.2 37.9 ± 3.4 52.5 ± 1.5
Scutellaria baicalensis 100 nz 65.9 ± 1.4 56.8 ± 1.7 26.3 ± 3.8
200 16.7 ± 1.0 83.8 ± 1.3 75.6 ± 1.7 30.1 ± 1.1
Siegesbeckia orientalis 100 9.4 ± 2.7 nz 30.7 ± 5.6 53.5 ± 5.5
200 16.7 ± 2.4 20.0 ± 6.3 49.6 ± 2.7 67.6 ± 0.6
Sinomenium acutum 100 6.1 ± 1.2 13.9 ± 2.9 nz 90.2 ± 0.5
200 8.2 ± 2.1 16.0 ± 0.1 14.3 ± 3.1 91.7 ± 0.1
Sorbus amurensis 100 nz nz 60.1 ± 1.6 34.6 ± 1.1
200 nz 5.5 ± 7.8 78.1 ± 3.5 41.1 ± 4.1
Xanthium strumarium 100 nz 14.7 ± 3.5 31.9 ± 6.5 14.6 ± 4.0
200 nz 31.7 ± 1.3 61.7 ± 2.6 49.1 ± 4.1
Results show mean ± S.E. (n = 3) of the inhibition of superoxide radical (%); nz: nearly zero.

Table 3
Effect of solvent extracts of Korean herbal medicines on hydroxyl radicals generated by l-ascorbic acid/Cu2+ system
Samples Concentration (␮g/ml) Solvents

Hexane EtOAC n-BuOH H2 O

Inula helenium 100 12.4 ± 1.9 31.5 ± 2.6 6.7 ± 0.4 5.7 ± 1.9
200 16.7 ± 3.7 45.8 ± 2.5 17.1 ± 0.3 10.3 ± 0.5
Astragalus membranaceus 100 11.4 ± 2.7 23.5 ± 2.2 40.6 ± 7.7 20.7 ± 3.3
200 15.7 ± 3.7 28.8 ± 2.6 49.8 ± 4.6 31.5 ± 7.3
Atratylodes koreana 100 15.8 ± 5.0 13.7 ± 7.0 19.1 ± 2.1 6.2 ± 1.0
200 27.6 ± 6.1 24.3 ± 5.3 31.4 ± 5.9 21.1 ± 2.2
Gardenia jasminoides 100 nz 32.1 ± 4.6 16.7 ± 7.0 24.8 ± 1.4
200 nz 46.7 ± 0.9 40.2 ± 4.1 39.1 ± 1.0
Magnolia liliflora 100 12.9 ± 1.5 10.0 ± 0.8 12.8 ± 1.9 5.23 ± 1.2
200 29.3 ± 2.9 28.8 ± 1.0 30.9 ± 0.9 9.96 ± 1.6
Scutellaria baicalensis 100 25.8 ± 2.5 32.5 ± 4.8 34.0 ± 2.8 11.0 ± 1.2
200 38.7 ± 1.9 63.4 ± 3.7 44.8 ± 1.0 10.5 ± 2.8
Siegesbeckia orientalis 100 9.2 ± 0.9 25.3 ± 3.6 67.1 ± 0.3 26.5 ± 9.7
200 19.1 ± 1.6 28.1 ± 2.2 84.5 ± 4.4 41.4 ± 2.0
Sinomenium acutum 100 5.5 ± 2.3 34.7 ± 3.8 27.0 ± 4.4 34.6 ± 1.7
200 13.6 ± 1.6 85.5 ± 3.7 33.6 ± 0.5 41.8 ± 3.7
Sorbus amurensis 100 32.8 ± 0.8 10.7 ± 1.1 28.1 ± 2.0 7.1 ± 3.4
200 51.9 ± 8.8 15.0 ± 1.5 48.9 ± 3.1 16.3 ± 1.7
Xanthium strumarium 100 13.4 ± 2.9 24.5 ± 6.0 11.1 ± 2.8 5.5 ± 1.4
200 14.9 ± 2.4 28.2 ± 1.5 30.2 ± 0.5 10.2 ± 1.4
Results show mean ± S.E. (n = 3) of the inhibition of hydroxyl radical (%); nz: nearly zero.
 D.G. Kang et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 87 (2003) 231–236 235

Table 4
Effect of solvent extracts of Korean herbal medicines on the inhibition of hemolysis by AAPH system
Samples Concentration (␮g/ml) Solvents

Hexane EtOAC n-BuOH H2 O

Inula helenium 100 18.1 ± 3.5 20.9 ± 2.3 58.8 ± 2.0 12.3 ± 3.7
200 28.2 ± 0.7 40.8 ± 2.2 73.6 ± 0.2 21.6 ± 2.9
Astragalus membranaceus 100 6.5 ± 4.8 8.4 ± 1.9 94.9 ± 1.0 38.8 ± 2.5
200 24.4 ± 2.8 14.6 ± 0.3 94.5 ± 0.4 48.6 ± 2.3
Atratylodes koreana 100 8.7 ± 6.8 12.2 ± 2.5 96.4 ± 1.1 7.2 ± 5.9
200 12.0 ± 0.1 13.2 ± 0.2 97.8 ± 0.1 14.3 ± 4.9
Gardenia jasminoides 100 23.8 ± 3.4 37.6 ± 3.3 56.3 ± 0.8 92.8 ± 0.2
200 24.5 ± 2.0 65.9 ± 7.4 79.3 ± 1.6 96.7 ± 0.4
Magnolia liliflora 100 12.2 ± 2.0 13.4 ± 1.7 97.2 ± 1.0 33.3 ± 2.5
200 16.1 ± 0.6 25.2 ± 0.4 98.7 ± 0.2 55.2 ± 1.3
Scutellaria baicalensis 100 9.8 ± 0.2 96.9 ± 0.9 87.9 ± 1.4 26.9 ± 2.2
200 12.2 ± 0.8 97.6 ± 1.6 97.1 ± 0.3 54.5 ± 0.7
Siegesbeckia orientalis 100 21.7 ± 1.1 16.1 ± 2.8 56.3 ± 3.9 41.1 ± 4.6
200 21.6 ± 0.9 22.1 ± 1.0 76.3 ± 0.2 75.2 ± 2.1
Sinomenium acutum 100 17.0 ± 2.9 32.2 ± 3.8 11.4 ± 3.6 93.2 ± 1.3
200 25.2 ± 3.5 43.9 ± 2.7 30.2 ± 5.2 98.5 ± 0.2
Sorbus amurensis 100 11.4 ± 1.5 13.5 ± 3.3 64.6 ± 2.0 23.0 ± 0.2
200 16.4 ± 2.7 20.9 ± 1.5 78.9 ± 2.1 28.9 ± 1.3
Xanthium strumarium 100 8.6 ± 5.6 43.2 ± 0.5 94.8 ± 0.4 43.0 ± 1.4
200 12.7 ± 2.3 58.3 ± 1.1 95.3 ± 0.1 69.4 ± 1.2
Results show mean ± S.E. (n = 3) of the inhibition of erythrocyte hemolysis (%).

Our experiment proved that incubation of the rat brain and food chemistry (Bravo, 1998). It has been revealed that
homogenate with Fe2+ /ascorbate at pH 7.4 causes rapid various phenolic antioxidants, such as flavonoids, tannins,
peroxidation, detectable by the TBA method. Table 5 shows coumarins, xanthones and more recently procyanidins scav-
the activities of the representative 10 extracts, which showed enge radicals dose-dependently, thus they are viewed as
high-antihemolysis activity, against lipid peroxidation of the promising therapeutic drugs for free radical pathologies (Lee
rat brain homogenate. All the extracts markedly inhibited et al., 2000). Flavonoids are 15-carbon aromatic pigments
LPO production in the brain homogenates (Table 5). found in green plants and include chalcones, flavonones,
Medicinal herbs are known to contain a variety of an- flavones, biflavonoids, dihydroflavonols, anthrocyanidins,
tioxidants. Numerous substances have been suggested to and flavonols (VanderJagt et al., 2002). More than 4000 nat-
appear as antioxidants. The most detailed investigations so urally occurring flavonoids have been described (Hollman
far were concerned with reactions involving phenolic com- and Katan, 1998).
pounds, ranging from polymer chemistry to biochemistry The present study suggests that more-polar components
present in herbal medicinal extracts contributed towards
Table 5 the increased ROS-scavenging activity. Although there are
Inhibitory effect of solvent extracts of Korean herbal medicines on the no direct evidences in this study, the antioxidant activities
lipid peroxide production in brain homogenates shown by BuOH extracts and/or water extracts of herbal
Plants Concentration Solvents Inhibition (%) medicines could be related to the presence of phenolic
(␮g/ml) compounds such as tannins and flavonoids because they
Inula helenium 200 BuOH 88.8 ± 0.2 contain an aromatic hydroxyl moiety (Yesilada et al., 2000;
Astragalus membranaceus 200 BuOH 90.8 ± 0.1 Ramezani et al., 2001). As well known, polyphenols are
Atratylodes koreana 200 BuOH 90.9 ± 1.5 very important constituents because of their scavenging
Gardenia jasminoides 200 H2 O 83.8 ± 0.8 ability with ROS and chelating ability with divalent cations
Magnolia liliflora 200 BuOH 93.7 ± 0.1
Scutellaria baicalensis 200 EtOAC 96.2 ± 0.0
due to their hydroxyl groups (de las Heras et al., 1998;
Siegesbeckia orientalis 200 BuOH 90.5 ± 1.1 Hatano et al., 1989; Lopes et al., 1999).
Sinomenium acutum 200 H2 O 91.2 ± 0.2 Although the active principles responsible for the antiox-
Sorbus amurensis 200 BuOH 90.7 ± 0.7 idant activity of the tested extracts have not yet been iso-
Xanthium strumarium 200 BuOH 88.8 ± 1.4 lated in this study, it will be useful to further analyze those
Results show mean ± S.E. (n = 3) of the inhibition of production of LPO. herbal medicines that contain the most antioxidant activity
236 D.G. Kang et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 87 (2003) 231–236
in order to identify the active principles. Then it would lead
to a better understanding of the kinds of antioxidants used
in Korea as herbal medicines.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Brain Korea 21 Project
and grant of the Oriental Medicine R&D Project, Ministry
of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HMP-00-CO-
03-0003).
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