%0 Journal Article
%T Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of selected medicinal plants and fungi containing phenolic and flavonoid compounds
%A Patricia Diaz
%A Sang Chul Jeong
%A Samiuela Lee
%A Cheang Khoo
%A Sundar Rao Koyyalamudi
%J Chinese Medicine
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1749-8546-7-26
%X Antioxidant activities were evaluated by four assays: an antioxidant activity assay using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a DPPH ((2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay to assess free radical scavenging, an assay assessing ferrous ions or iron (II) chelating ability, and a ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminium chloride methods, respectively. Anti-inflammatory activities were determined by measuring the inhibition of nitric oxide and TNF-¦Á production in lipopolysaccharide- and interferon-¦Ã-activated J774A.1 macrophages. Their cytotoxicities against macrophages were determined by MTT assay.A positive linear correlation between antioxidant activities and the total phenolic and flavonoid content of the plant extracts was found. The plant extracts with high phenolic and flavonoid content also exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity with good cell viability.The selected herbs could be a rich source of antioxidants and free radical scavenging compounds. The levels of phenolic and flavonoid compounds were correlated with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts from the herbs.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) include free radicals, e.g., superoxide (O2¡ñ-) and the hydroxyl (OH¡ñ), hydroperoxyl (OOH¡ñ), peroxy (ROO¡ñ) and alkoxy (RO¡ñ) radicals, and non-free radicals, e.g., hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which are constantly produced in the human body during cell metabolism [1]. Others are reactive nitrogen species (RNS) consisting of nitric oxide (NO¡ñ), peroxynitrite (ONOO¡ñ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Free radicals are important in the regulation of signal transduction, gene expression and activation of receptors [2]. However, an excess of free radicals is toxic to almost every biological molecule in living cells [3], and can cause oxidative damage to functional macromolecules such as DNA, proteins, and lipids if not eliminated q
%U http://www.cmjournal.org/content/7/1/26