Antioxidant Activity of some Medicinal Species using FRAP Assay

Background: Medicinal plants (especially belong to Lamiaceae family) are potential sources of new drugs to improve the treatment of diseases whose treatment is associated to anti-oxidative agents. In this paper, the Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP) activity of some Lamiaceae and Apiaceae species, has been evaluated. Methods: Aerial parts of the plants were dried, cut into small pieces and extracted with ethyl acetate and methanol, respectively, by percolation at room temperature. Different concentrations of the plant extracts were investigated for antioxidant power using FRAP assay. Results: The extracts showed a considerable antioxidant effect from 16.36 mmol of FeSO4/100 g dry plant equivalents in Scutellaria tornefortii (AcOEt extract) to 404.12 mmol of FeSO4/100 g dried plant in Salvia macrosiphon (MeOH extract). Conclusions: All the plant samples possessed antioxidant activity, while Salvia macrosiphon (MeOH extract), Pimpinella tragioides (MeOH extract) and Salvia limbata (AcOEt extract) showed significantly the highest results and Scutellaria tornefortii (AcOEt extract) showed the lowest power. Antioxidant activity of these species might be due to the presence of flavonoids, rosmarinic acid, coumarins even monoterpenes (like myrcene) in the plant extracts.