Antioxidant Activity and Total Phenolics Content of Montpellier Cistus (Cistus monspeliensis) Extracts

Abstract

To determine the antioxidant activity of the water (WE), methanol (ME), ethanol (EE) and ethyl acetate extracts (EAE) from the leaves of Cistus monspeliensis, several methods such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assay, 2,2’-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical cation decolorization assay, reducing power assay, metal chelating assay, Thiobarbituric acid test (TBARS) and β-carotene linoleic acid system assay were investigated. Because of the important roles of total phenolics and total flavonoids as antioxidants, the amounts of total phenolics and total flavonoids in the extracts were also determined. The WE and ME showed a higher scavenging activity on the DPPH and ABTS radical. Both extracts also exhibited a strong chelating effect on Fe2+ and performed the best in the reducing power assay. On the other hand, the WE and ME were found to have the higher total phenolic contents (23.13 and 23.25 mg GAE/g of extract respectively) and total flavonoid contents (55.08 and 47.77 mg rutin/g of extract respectively). Thus, both extracts are promising alternatives to synthetic substances as food ingredients with antioxidant activity. The ME and the WE showed the similar levels in phenolic content