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Antioxidant activities in vitro of ethanol extract from brown seaweed Sargassum pallidum

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Abstract

The crude extract (CE) was obtained by extracting the powder of Sargassum pallidum with a solution of 70% ethanol. Then, CE dissolved in distilled water was fractionated with chloroform (Cf), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and n-butanol (n-BuOH), respectively, affording four fractions of Cf, EtOAc, n-BuOH and aqueous. First, the contents of total polyphenols, vitamin C (VC) and vitamin E (VE) in CE and its four fractions were determined. As results, the contents of total polyphenols in CE and its fractions decreased in the following order: aqueous fraction > n-BuOH fraction > EtOAc fraction > CE > Cf fraction. The aqueous fraction had significantly higher VC content (1.82%) compared with CE and fractions of Cf, EtOAc, and n-BuOH (P < 0.05). The contents of VE in CE and its fractions were all in low level compared with the total polyphenol content and VC content. Second, the antioxidant activities in vitro of CE and its four fractions were evaluated. Among all the fractions, EtOAc fraction exhibited the highest total antioxidant activity (0.52 μmol FeSO4 equivalent/mg extract), while fractions of EtOAc and n-BuOH exhibited the highest 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and capacity of chelating iron ions, respectively. In addition, a higher content of total polyphenols (52.08 mg chlorogenic acid equivalent/g extract) and reducing power (0.505 at A700) for aqueous fraction were noticed. Finally, it was found that the extracts of S. pallidum contained large amounts of phlorotannin dimers and trimer based on the analytical results of ultra high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy. The results suggest that S. pallidum can be a good source of natural antioxidant.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by a grant-in-aid for scientific research from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.30570415), a grant-in-aid for the Key Project from Chinese Ministry of Education (No.108152), and a grant-in-aid for Youth Innovation Fund from Nanjing Agricultural University (No.KJ04015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, 1 Weigang, 210095, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Ye, Yi Sun, Xin Zhang, Jun Liu, Qiuhui Hu & Xiaoxiong Zeng

  2. Jiangsu Environmental Monitoring Center, 210036, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Chunhong Zhou

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  1. Hong Ye
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  2. Chunhong Zhou
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  3. Yi Sun
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  4. Xin Zhang
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  5. Jun Liu
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  6. Qiuhui Hu
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  7. Xiaoxiong Zeng
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Correspondence to Xiaoxiong Zeng.

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Ye, H., Zhou, C., Sun, Y. et al. Antioxidant activities in vitro of ethanol extract from brown seaweed Sargassum pallidum . Eur Food Res Technol 230, 101–109 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-009-1147-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-009-1147-4

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