The Evaluation of Inhibitory Effects of Selected Plant Extracts on Antioxidant Enzymes

Abstract

Plants and most of the plant derived compounds have been known because of their potential pharmaceutical effects for a long time. They are playing an important role on the treatment of several diseases from diabetes to various types of cancers. Today most of the clinically effective pharmaceuticals are developed from plant derived ancestors in the history of medicine. In this study different parts of the plants, namely Centaurea virgata (Lam.), Cichorium intybus (L.), Euporbia macroclada (Boiss.), Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall, and Zygophyllum fabago (L.) were evaluated for their potential medicinal value in terms of biological targets which are participating in antioxidant defense such as catalase (CAT), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). The results indicate that the highest total phenolic contents of leaf and flower extracts were for E. macroclada. The highest flavonoid contents are detected for the leaves of E. macroclada and Z. fabago. The evaluation of extracts against biological targets reveals that the fruit extract of Z. fabago and the flowers of C. intybus show the inhibition against GST. For CAT, the highest inhibition is observed with E. macroclada leaf extract. Among the extracts analyzed, the only but slight SOD inhibition is determined with flower part of E. macroclada. © by PSP Volume 24 - No 1. 2015.