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FOOD CHEMISTRY, vol.100, no.1, pp.339-343, 2007 (SCI-Expanded)
This study was designed to examine the in vitro antioxidant activities of the essential oil and methanol extracts of Satureja spicigera and S. cuneifolia from Turkish flora. GC and GC/MS analysis of the essential oils resulted in the identification of 40 and 29 compounds, representing the 99.4% and 99.5% of the oils, respectively. Major constituents of the oils were carvacrol (42.5% and 67.1%), gamma-terpinene (21.5% and 15.2%) and p-cymene (20.9% and 6.7%), respectively. Methanol extracts were also obtained from the aerial parts of the plants. The samples were subjected to a screening for their possible antioxidant activities by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and beta-carotene-linoleic acid assays. In general, samples obtained from S. cuneifolia exerted greater antioxidant activities than did those obtained from S. spicigera. In the DPPH test system, free radical-scavenging activity of S. spicigera oil was determined to be 127 +/- 1.63 mu g/ml, whereas IC50 value of S. cuneifolia was 89.1 +/- 2.29 mu g/ml. In the beta-carotene-linoleic acid test system, antioxidant activities of the oil were 81.7 +/- 1.14% and 93.7 +/- 1.83%, respectively. Antioxidant activities of the synthetic antioxidant, BHT, ascorbic acid, curcumin and alpha-tocopherol were also determined in parallel experiments. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.