Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Various Herbal Folk Evaluation Medicine
Ece Miser-SALIHOGLU*°, Galip AKAYDIN**, Emel Calıskan-CAN*, Sevgi Yardım-AKAYDIN*

* Gazi University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Biochemistry, Turkey
** Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Science and Mathematics for Secondary Education, Turkey
 

^oCorresponding Author: ecemiser@gazi.edu.tr

Summary

This study was prepared to determine natural antioxidant capacity of some plants, which grow in Düzce and its surroundings, and are used as folk medicine. For this purpose, we investigated Smilax excelsa L., Mespilus germanica L., Equisetum telmateia Ehrh. , Urtica dioica L., and Laurocerasus officinalis Roemer plants and upper parts of the soil and leaves of these plants were extracted separately. In order to determine the antioxidant capacity of these plants, different in vitro methods such as N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DMPD·+) radical scavenging activity, cupric ion (Cu2+) reduction capacity, lipid peroxidation inhibiting activity were applied. Also phenolic contents of these plants were measured by Folin Ciocalteu’s method. Vitamin C, gallic acid, and trolox were used as the reference antioxidant compounds. As a result of our study, we have found that while Smilax excelsa, Laurocerasus officinalis and Urtica dioica have relatively high content of phenolic compounds, Equisetum telmateia and Mespilus germanica have relatively low content of phenolic compounds. In general Smilax excelsa and Laurocerasus officinalis had higher antioxidant activity.

Key Words :
Antioxidant activity; phenolic content; folk medicine.