Antioxidant activity of the Ferula gummosa Boiss.'s aerial parts: Measurements based on different assay methods

Measuring of natural antioxidants power is important in the food industry. Ferula gummosa Boiss. plant, locally called Barijeh, is a member of genus Ferula belonging to the Apiaceae family. To introduce endemic natural antioxidants, antioxidant capacity of alcoholic and hydroalcoholic extracts of aerial parts of F. gummosa Boiss. was investigated.

The primary objective of this study was to compare the antioxidant levels and activities between flower and leaf extracts of Ferula gummosa Boiss. plant by different assay methods.

The antioxidant activity of flower and leaf extracts of F. gummosa Boiss. was assessed usingferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay. In addition, phenolic content of the extracts was measured byFolin-Ciocalteu (FC) method.

Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay showed that leaf extract has more antioxidant activity compared to flower extract. DPPH assay had similar results. A slow kinetic behavior was found for methanol extracts of both tissues (EC50 of 0.21 mg/mL and 0.25 mg/mL for leaf and flower methanol extracts, respectively) which was estimated by kinetic mode of DPPH assay. The ORAC assay showed higher values for methanolic extracts compared to ethanolic extracts. Except for ORAC assay, a significant positive correlation was found between antioxidant data of ferric-reducing antioxidant power, DPPH and Folin-Ciocalteu assays.

These findings suggest that high antiradical potential and reducing power of the alcoholic and hydroalcoholic extracts of the aerial parts of F. gummosa Boiss. correspond to a high phenolic content in these plant parts. The high antioxidant activity of the F. gummosa Boiss. could propound the hydroalcoholic extracts of this plant as a therapeutic agent to prevent and treat diseases due to free radical imbalance in the body