Total phenolic, antioxidant activity and toxicity of taxus leaf herbal tea in two different brewing temperature

Abstract

Taxus has been recognized to have many medicinal properties. This study aims to determine the total phenolic, antioxidant activity, toxicity effect of taxus leaf herbal tea from two brewing temperatures. Antioxidant test was carried out by IC50-DPPH, total phenolic was carried out by spectrophotometric analysis, and toxicity effect was measured with BSLT (Brine Shrimp Lethality Test) method. The taxus leaves were prepared by drying method at 60°C until the water content reached 10% and then ground until they were quite smooth. Brewing was carried out at a temperature of 75°C and 95°C. The results showed that taxus leaves had strong antioxidants with IC50 values reaching 62.5 ppm and total phenols of 15.68% (w/w) and 14.08% (w/w) at each brewing temperature. The LC50 of toxicity effect of taxus leaves at 290.58 ppm and 536.38 ppm. We concluded the taxus leaves was a good natural antioxidant source with phenol content and could be develop to natural drug for anticancer.