Antioxidant Activity, Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents of Echium Species from Different Geographical Locations of Iran

Authors

Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Iranian Echium species (Boraginaceae), popularly known as "Gol-e-Gavzaban" are native plants that some of them have been used widely as food and traditional medicine since long times. In this work organs from different populations of two Iranian Echium species were collected from their natural locations in order to analyze their phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Hydroalcoholic extracts of organs were assessed for total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC). 1, 1- Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging and ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were also used to evaluate the antioxidant properties of the extracts.Among the examined organs, leaves of E. amoenum (Hezar Jarib location) contained the highest (119.50 ± 2.00 mg GAE/g DW)TPC, followed by seeds of E. italicum L. (Alamute Qazvin location) (117.91 ± 7.29 mg GAE/g DW). Seeds of E. amoenum (Ramsar location) showed the highest (62.17 ± 3.59 mg QE/g DW) TFC value.  All extracts also exerted antioxidant properties, the most active one was the seed extract of E. amoenum (Behshahr location) which containedthe highest free radical scavenging effect (76.67 ± 0.33%) and the highest FRAP value (20.88 ± 0.72 mg GAE/g DW). The study revealed that phenolic compounds may be the main contributors to the antioxidant activity of some organs of Echium plants and they could be explored as potent natural antioxidants in the future. Correlative effects of altitude and precipitation, as two important environmental factors on the content of phenolics were also investigated. Results showed that the patterns of phenolic and flavonoids contents in the different organs of Echium plants were differently affected by two environmental factors.

Keywords


1. Mustafa RA, Abdul Hamid A, Mohamed S, Abubakar F. Total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and radical scavenging activity of 21 selected tropical plants. J Food Sci. 2010;75:28-35. 
2. Siddique NA, Mujeeb M, Najmi AK, Akram   M, Evaluation of antioxidant activity, quantitative estimation of phenols and flavonoids in different parts of Aegle marmelos. Afr JPlant Sci. 2010;4:1-5.
3. Stanojevic L, Stankovic M, Nikolic V, Nikolic L, Ristic D, Canadanovic-Brunet J, Tumbas, V. Antioxidant activity and total phenolic and flavonoid contents of Hieracium pilosella L. extracts. Sensors 2009;9:5702-5714.
4. Xu GH, Ryoo IJ, Kim YH, Choo SJ, Yoo ID. Free radical scavenging and antielastase activities of flavonoids from the fruits of Thuja orientalis. Arch Pharm Res. 2009;2:275-282.
5. Surabhi Sh, Leelavathi S. Anti-oxidant property of ethanolic extract of Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.).Int J Drug Dev Res. 2010;2:399-403
6. Zivkovic J, Mujic I, Zekovic Z, Vidovic S, Mujic, A, Jokic S. Radical scavenging, antimicrobial activity and phenolic content of Castanea sativa extract. J Cent Eur Agric.2009;10:2175-2182.
7. Adel Pilerood Sh, Prakash, J.   Evaluation of nutritional composition and antioxidant activity of Borage (Echium amoenum) and Valerian (Valerian officinalis). J. Food Sci Technol. 2011; 1-10.
8. Cardozo ML, Ordoñez RM, Alberto MR, Zampini IC, Isla MI. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity characterization and genotoxicity evaluation of Ziziphus mistol ripe berries, exotic Argentinean fruit. Food Res Int.2011;44:2063-2071.
9. Conforti F, Sosa S, Marrelli M, Menichini F, Statti GA, Uzunov D, Tubaro A, Menichini F, Loggia RD. In vivo anti-inflammatory and in vitro antioxidant activities of Mediterranean dietary plants. J Ethnopharmacol. 2008;116:144–151.
10. Gachkar L, Yadegari D, Rezaei MB, Taghizadeh M, Alipoor Astaneh SH, Rasooli I. Chemical and biological characteristics of Cuminum cyminum and Rosmarinus officinalis essential oils. Food Chem. 2007;102:898–904.
11. Ranjbar A, Khorami S, Safarabadi M, Shahmoradi A, Malekirad AA, Vakilian K, Mandegary A,  Abdollahi M. Antioxidant activity of Iranian Echium amoenum Fisch & C.A. Mey flower decoction in humans: A cross-sectional before/after clinical trial. Evid-Based Comp Alt Med. 2006;3:469-473.
12. Wojdylo A, Oszmianski J, Czemerys R. Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in 32 selected herbs. Food Chem. 2007;105:940-948.
13. Wong SP, Leong LP, Koh JHW. Antioxidant activities of aqueous extracts of selected plants. Food Chem. 2006;99:775-783.
14. Gupta M, Singh W.  Borago officinalis Linn. an important medicinal plant of Mediterranean region: A review. Int J Pharm Sci Rev Res.2010;5:27-34.
15. Mhamdi B, Aidi Wannes W, Sriti J, Jellali I, Ksouri R, Marzouk B. Effect of harvesting time on phenolic compounds and antiradical scavenging activity of Borago officinalis seed extracts. Ind Crop Prod.2010;31:1–4.
16. Wettasinghe M, Shahidi F, Amarowicz R, Abou-Zaid MM. Phenolic acids in defatted seeds of borage (Borago officinalis L.). Food Chem.2001; 75: 49–56.
17. Mehrabani M, Ghassemi N, Sajjadi E, Ghannadi A, Shams-Ardakani M.Main phenolic compound of petals of Echium amoenum Fisch. & C.A. Mey. a famous medicinalplant of Iran.Daru J Pharm Sci. 2005;2:65-69.
18. Riedl H. Boraginaceae: 1-281, in Rechinger K.H. (ed.), Flora Iranica, Akademische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria. 1967, p. 215.
19. Hooper D. Useful Plants and Drugs of Iran and Iraq. Chicago, USA: Field Museum of Natural History. 1937, p. 115.
20. Singleton VL, Orthofer R, Lamuela-Raventós RM. Analysis of total phenols and other oxidation substrates and antioxidants by means of Folin–Ciocalteu reagent. Methods Enzymol. 1999;299:152–178.
21. Zhishen J, Mengcheng T, Jianming W. The determination of flavonoid contents in mulberry and their scavenging effects on superoxide radicals. Food Chem. 1999;64:555–559.
22. Liyana-Pathiranan C M, Shahidi F. Antioxidant activity of commercial soft and hard wheat (Triticum aestivum L) as affected by gastric pH conditions.  J Agric Food Chem.2005;53:2433-2440.
24. Manach C, Scalbert A, Morand C, Rémésy C, Jimenez L. Polyphenols: Food sources and bioavailability. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79:727−747.
25. de Oliveira AC, Valentim IB, Silva CA, Bechara, EJH, de Barros MP,  Mano CM. Total phenolic content and free radical scavenging activities of methanolic extract powders of tropical fruit residues. Food Chem.2009;115:469−475.
26. Shahidi F. Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods in Health Promotion and Disease Risk Reduction. 2007, IUFoST conference - Natural and Safe Food Ingredients - Fi Asia/Shanghai, China.
27. Kahkonen MP, Hopia A, Vuorela HJ, Rauha JP, Pihlaja K, Kujala TS, Heinonen, M. Antioxidant activity of plant extracts containing phenolic compounds. J Agric Food Chem.1999;47:3954–3962.
28. Shahidi F, Marian N. Phenolics in Food and Nutraceuticals, vol. 1. CRS Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL. 2003, pp. 144–150.
29. Soobrattee MA, Neergheen VS, Luximon-Ramma A, Aruoma OI, Bahorun T. Phenolics as potential antioxidant therapeutic agents: Mechanism and actions. Mut Res Fund Mol Med.2005;579:200–213.
30. Vivacons M, Moreno JJ. Beta-sitosterol modulates antioxidant enzyme response in RAW264.7 macrophages. Free Radic Biol Med.2005;39:91–97.
31. Yoshida Y, Niki E. Antioxidant effects of phytosterol and its components. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol. 2003;49:277–280.
32. Abbaszadeh S, Radjabian T, Taghizadeh M.Identification and determination of phytosterols in oilseeds of some populations from two Iranian Echium species.Iranian J Med Arom Plants.2013;28:741-755.
33. Sárosi S, Bernáth J, Burchi G, Antonetti M, Bertoli A, Pistelli L, Benvenuti  S. (2010) Effect of different plant origins and climatic conditions on the total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity of self-heal (Prunella vulgaris L.) Proc. XXVIIIth IHC-IHC Seminar: A New Look at Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Eds.: Á. Máthé et al. Acta Hort. 925, ISHS, 2011.
34. Giorgi A, Madeo M, Speranza G, Cocucci M. Influence of environmental factors on composition of phenolic antioxidants of Achillea collina Becker ex Rchb. Nat Prod Res. 2010;24:1546-1559.
35. Oloumi H, Hassibi N. Study the correlation between some climate parameters and the content of phenolic compounds in roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra. J Med Plants Res. 2011;5:6011-6016.
36. Ghasemi K, Ghasemi Y, Ehteshamnia A, Nabavi SM, Nabavi SF, Ebrahimzadeh MA, Pourmorad F. Influence of environmental factors on antioxidant activity, phenol and flavonoids contents of walnut (Juglans regia L.) green husks. J Med Plants Res. 2011;5:1128-1133.
37. Jovancevic M, Balijagic J, Menkovic N, Savikin K, Zdunic G, Jankovic T, Dekic-Ivankovic M Analysis of Phenolic compounds in wild populations of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) from Montenegro. J Med Plants Res. 2011;5:910-914.
38. Asadian GH, Rahnavard A, Pourshamsian KH. Ghorbanpour M, Taghavi M. Study of variation of biochemical components in Hypericum perforatum L. growth in North of Iran. J Res Agr Sci. (JRAS) 2011;7:27-36.
39. Ferreira ML, Domingos M. Seasonal characterization of antioxidant responses in plants of Ipomoea nil cv. Scarlet O’Hara. Braz J Biol. 2012;72:831-837.