title: In vitro biological evaluation of 100 selected methanol extracts from the traditional medicinal plants of Asia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In Asia, various medicinal plants have been used as the primary sources in the health care regimen for thousands of years. In recent decades, various studies have investigated the biological activity and potential medicinal value of the medicinal plants. In this study, 100 methanol extracts from 98 plant species were evaluated for their biological activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research properties, including 1,1-diphenyl-2-pic-rylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, α-glucosidase and α-tyrosinase inhibitory effects, anti-inflammatory activity, and anticancer activity were evaluated for the selected extracts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen of the extracts scavenged more than 90% of the DPPH radical. Among the extracts, approximately 20 extracts showed a strong inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase, while most had no effect on α-tyrosinase. In addition, 52% of the extracts showed low toxicity to normal cells, and parts of the extracts exhibited high anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities on the murine macrophage cell (RAW 264.7) and human colon cancer cell (HT-29) lines, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings may contribute to further nutrition and pharmacological studies. Detailed investigations of the outstanding samples are currently underway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food & Science and Nutrition, Dankook University, Yongin, Gyeonggi 448-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Chunmei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Biomedical Science, Kangwon National University, 1 Kangwondaehak-gil, Chuncheon, Gangwon 200-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Myeong-Hyeon
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Medicinal plants; anti-inflammatory; anti-α-glucosidase; anticancer; antioxidant
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