Somayeh Naghiloo
*, Ali Movafeghi
1, Abbas Delazar
2, Hossein Nazemiyeh
3, Solmaz Asnaashari
2, Mohammad Reza Dadpour
41 Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
2 Drug Applied Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
4 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Introduction:
The potential health risks and toxicity of synthetic antioxidants
resulted in an upsurge of interest in phytochemicals as new sources of
natural antioxidants. Phenolics of Astragalus L. (Fabaceae)
possess antioxidant properties and have been shown to have a protective
effect against several degenerative diseases. The objective of this
study was to determine total phenolics and antioxidant activity of
methanolic extracts from different parts of A. compactus Lam. at
different phenological phases and to investigate the correlations
between antioxidation and the contents of the total phenolics. Methods:
Total phenolic content (TPC) was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteau
reagent and the antioxidant capacity was evaluated with the
1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test. Results:
Generally, the TPC in leaves was higher than that of the roots and
flowers. TPC in leaves, roots and flowers of the species varied from
5.01-8.25, 4.29-7.89 and 4.19 μg GAE/mg DW, respectively. In addition,
roots and leaves at fructification stage possessed higher TPC than
vegetative and flowering stages. Therefore, the leaf extracts at
fructification phase showed the highest TPC that accompanied with best
antioxidant activity. In the root extracts, fructification stage was
also characterized by the highest antioxidant activity. Conclusion: A
positive relationship between antioxidant activity and TPC showed that
phenolics were the dominant antioxidant components in the species.
Results obtained suggest that A. compactus methanolic extracts
may serve as potential sources of natural phenolic antioxidants and that
the fructification phase could be considered as the best stage for the
harvesting of this plant.