Antioxidant Activities of the 95% Ethanol Extracts of Nine Chinese Herbs Commonly Used in Hakka Area

Nine Chinese herbs including Artemisiae Argyi, Peristrophe baphica, Paederia scandense, Patrinia villosa, Cassia mimosoides, Gynostemma Pentaphyllum, Rabdosin serra, Mesona chinensis and Houttuynia cordata are commonly used in Hakka area. We investigated the antioxidant activities of 95% ethanol extracts from whole plants of the nine Chinese herbs by two in vitro assays, namely DPPH radical-scavenging activity and ferric reducing/antioxidant power(FRAP) assay. The contents of total flavonoids and total phenols were measured by aluminum chloride and Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric assays, respectively, and their correlations with DPPH radical-scavenging effect and ferric reducing/ antioxidant power (FRAP) were analyzed. The extracts were found to have different levels of antioxidant activity in the systems tested. Cassia mimosoides had the highest value of antioxidant activity based on DPPH radical-scavenging activity and ferric reducing power and the highest contents of total flavonoids and total phenols, followed by Rabdosin serra. Ferric reducing/ antioxidant power (FRAP) was shown to provide higher association with the contents of total flavonoids and total phenols than DPPH radical-scavenging activity. Thus, we suggest that Cassia mimosoides and Rabdosin serra could be used as potential sources of safe dietary supplement or antioxidant of natural origin to promote human health.