Antioxidant and free radical scavenging effects of β-amyrin isolated from S. cochinchinensis Moore. leaves

Abstract

β-Amyrin isolated from Symplocos cochinchinensis Moore. leaves was evaluated for the effects on free radicals, antioxidant enzymes and liver protection on CCl4 induced oxidative stress in Wistar rats. β-Amyrin showed very good scavenging effects on 2,2-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (IC50 89.63±1.31μg/ml, AAI=1.11), hydroxyl (IC50 76.41±1.65μg/ml, AAI=1.30), nitric oxide (IC50 87.03±0.85μg/ml, AAI=1.14) and superoxide (IC50 81.28±1.79μg/ml, AAI=1.23) radicals as well as high reducing power and strong suppressive effect on lipid peroxidation. In in vivo study, pre-treatment of rats with β-amyrin at 50mg/kg for 7 days showed significant reduction in the levels of SGOT, SGPT and LDH compared to CCl4 treated rats. SOD, CAT, GSH and GPx levels were increased significantly after treatment with β-amyrin. These results clearly demonstrated that β-amyrin possessed marked antioxidant activity. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.