RESUMO
Objective To investigate anti-oxidant activities of the n-butanol extract of Boschniakia rossica (BEBR), and preliminarily determine the material basis of its antioxidant activities. Methods Antioxidant activities of different polarity extraction of BEBR were performed by using 1,1-dipheny-2-trinitrophenylhydrazine (DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging assays and ferric reducing anti-oxidant power as the index. The aging rats induced by D-galactose were used as models to investigate the effects of different n-butanol extract parts on the content of MDA and the activity of SOD and CAT in liver tissue; The chemical composition of BEBR was preliminarily analyzed by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS. Results BEBR had good scavenging effect on free radicals of DPPH and ABTS, and well performation in ferrous reduction experiments of FRAP determination. Compared with the model group, all indexes of MDA, SOD, and CAT in liver tissues of rats from different dose groups with BEBR were significantly improved (P < 0.01), which showed that levels of MDA reduced, the activity of SOD and CAT increased and back to above normal levels. The anti-oxidant activity in vivo showed in a dose-dependent manner. Nineteen chemical constituents were tentatively characterized by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS, of which 14 were phenylpropanoid glycosides (PPGs). Conclusion BEBR has good anti-oxidant effects and PPGs are the main active constituents.