Determination of antioxidative properties of herbal extracts: Agrimonia herba, Cynare folium, and Ligustri folium.

OBJECTIVES: Hyaluronan (HA) molecules were exposed to free radical-mediated degradation performed by the reaction mixture Cu(II) and ascorbate, the so-called Weissberger biogenic oxidative system, which mimics the situation of acute inflammation. To achieve protection of HA from degradation, herbal extracts such as Agrimonia herba, Cynare folium, and Ligustri folium were selected.

METHODS: Time- and dose-dependent changes of dynamic viscosity of the HA solutions in the presence and absence of the herbal extracts were recorded by rotational viscometry (RV). Radical scavenging capacity of the extracts was investigated by the spectrocolorimetric ABTS and DPPH assays.

RESULTS: The results of RV revealed that the extracts of Agrimonia herba and Cynare folium were effective in inhibiting the degradation of HA. On the other hand, the extract of Ligustri folium increased the rate of HA degradation. The highest radical scavenging capacity of ABTS(*+) and DPPH(*) was observed in Agrimonia herba extract followed by the extracts of Ligustri folium and Cynare folium.