ABSTRACT
Brasenia schreberi Gmel. (Cabombaceae) is an aquatic plant that grows in eastern Asia, Australia, Africa, and North and Central America. B. schreberi leaf extracts were obtained by sequential solvent extraction with dichloromethane, methanol, and water. The antioxidant potential of each extract was assessed by using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay. With this method, methanol and water extracts were found to be active with mean ± standard deviation values of 7 ± 2 and 5.1 ± 0.5 µmol Trolox® equivalents (TE)/mg, respectively. Two major phenolic compounds, quercetin-7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside and gallic acid, were respectively isolated from the methanolic and water extracts. Both compounds exhibited antioxidant activities, in particular quercetin-7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (ORAC value, 18 ± 4 µmol TE/µmol). In contrast to its well-known antioxidant homologue quercetin, quercetin-7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside does not inhibit growth of human fibroblasts (WS-1) or murine macrophages (RAW 264.7). Some flavonoids have been reported to possess beneficial effects in cardiovascular and chronic inflammatory diseases associated with overproduction of nitric oxide. Quercetin-7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside possesses anti-inflammatory activity, inhibiting expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and release of nitric oxide by lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages in a dose-dependent manner. Quercetin-7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside also inhibited overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 and granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor.
