In vitro study of antioxidant properties of parsley [petroselinum sativum M.] seed extracts

ABSTRACT

In this study, the antioxidant activity of aqueous extract of parsley [Petroselinum sativum M.] seeds [PA] was evaluated by various antioxidant assay, including total antioxidant, radical scavenging activity by DPPH reduction, superoxide anion, nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities. Furthermore, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, metal chelating and reducing power activities of PA extract were also evaluated. Those various antioxidant activities were compared to standard antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole [BHA] and a-tocopherol The PA extract of seeds showed strong antioxidant activity. Parsley extract at doses 50, 100 and 200 micro g/ml exhibited 38.2,71.6 and 83.8% inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation in a concentration-dependant manner, respectively. On the other hand, a-tocopherol or BHA exhibited 413 and 80.2% respectively. The PA extract have effective reducing power, free radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, and metal chelating activities. This antioxidant property depends on concentration and increasing with increased amount of sample. In addition, total phenolic compounds in the PA seeds were determined as gallic acid equivalents. The results obtained in the present study indicated that the PA seed is a potential source of natural antioxidant From the above assays, the possible mechanism of antioxidant activity of parsley seeds includes reductive ability, metal chelator, hydrogen donating ability and scavengers of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide and nitric oxide radicals.