Antioxidant activities of licorice-derived prenylflavonoids.
Glycyrrhiza uralensis (or licorice) is a widely used Oriental herbal medicine from which the phenylflavonoids dehydroglyasperin C (DGC), dehydroglyasperin D (DGD), and isoangustone A (IsoA) are derived. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant properties of DGC, DGD, and IsoA. The three compounds showed strong ferric reducing activities and effectively scavenged DPPH, ABTS(+), and singlet oxygen radicals. Among the three compounds tested, DGC showed the highest free radical scavenging capacity in human hepatoma HepG2 cells as assessed by oxidant-sensitive fluorescent dyes dichlorofluorescein diacetate and dihydroethidium bromide. In addition, all three compounds effectively suppressed lipid peroxidation in rat tissues as well as H(2)O(2)-induced ROS production in hepatoma cells. This study demonstrates that among the three phenylflavonoids isolated from licorice, DGC possesses the most potent antioxidant activity, suggesting it has protective effects against chronic diseases caused by reactive oxygen species as well as potential as an antioxidant food additive.
School of Applied Biosciences and Food Science and Biotechnology, BK21 research Team for Developing Functional Health Food Materials, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
Hyo Jung
HJ
Kim
Ji-Yeon
JY
Seo
Hwa-Jin
HJ
Suh
Soon Sung
SS
Lim
Jong-Sang
JS
Kim
Antioxidant activity; dehydroglyasperin C; dehydroglyasperin D; isoangustone A; licorice