Antioxidant activities of an active fraction from Athyrium multidentatum (Doll.) Ching

In this paper, an active fraction (TA) was obtained from Athyrium multidentatum (Doll.) Ching rhizome by silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The total phenolic content in TA was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method. Antioxidant activity of TA was evaluated employing various established in vitro systems. As a result, TA showed stong reducing power, metal chelating ability and superoxide radical scavenging activity. In the reducing power assay, the absorbance of TA increased from 0.698 ± 0.008 to 2.053 ± 0.011 at concentrations of 4 to 12 μg/mL, which was stronger than vitamin C. These findings indicated that TA was excellent antioxidant and might be a promising prophylactic agent for free radical-related disease.