title: Antioxidant/anti-inflammatory activities and total phenolic content of extracts obtained from plants grown in Vietnam.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medicinal plants have been used to treat various diseases since ancient times. Their specific activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer, have been studied intensively. In particular, plants grown in Vietnam have attracted considerable attention among food chemists as ideal sources of natural medicinal chemicals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The methanol extracts from three edible Vietnamese-grown plants, Tram, Voi and Gac, tested with the DPPH assay showed antioxidant activities of 91.7 ± 0.4, 63.4 ± 0.7 and 3.7 ± 0.1% respectively. The malonaldehyde/gas chromatography assay also revealed strong antioxidant activity in Tram and Voi at a level of 25 µg mL(-1) (95.5 ± 0.3 and 78.5 ± 1.4% respectively). These results were confirmed by the thiobarbituric acid assay. The antioxidant activities correlated positively with the level of total phenolics in all plants. Tram exhibited dose response-related lipoxygenase-inhibitory activity, with values of 74.2 ± 3.1% at 5 µg mL(-1) , 62.0 ± 0% at 0.5 µg mL(-1) and 3.0 ± 1.5% at 0.05 µg mL(-1) . Conversely, Voi and Gac showed negative anti-lipoxygenase activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The antioxidant/anti-inflammatory activities and total phenolic contents of the three edible plants grown in Vietnam revealed that they are good sources of supplements for human health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sone
authors.forename: Joon-Kwan
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Truong Tuyet
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Nghiem Nguyet
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Thu
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Yuzuru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibamoto
mesh_terms: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D055808:Drug Discovery; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D016859:Lipoxygenase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry; D029775:Momordica / Q000737:chemistry*; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis* / Q000494:pharmacology; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D027842:Syzygium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000975:Antioxidants; D016859:Lipoxygenase Inhibitors; D010636:Phenols; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents; D000432:Methanol