RADICAL SCAVENGING CAPACITY OF SEEDS AND LEAVES ETHANOL EXTRACTS OF CYNARA SCOLYMUS L. - A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Artichoke with scientific name Cynara scolymus L. is an herbal medicinal plant widely used in traditional European medicine. This medicinal plant possesses many properties, including hepatoprotective ability and antioxidant effect. It has been reported that seeds and leaves of the artichoke contain different constituents such as caffeoylquinic acid derivatives, mono-and di-caffeoylquinic acids, bitter sesquiterpene such as cynatriol and cynaropicrin and flavonoids glycosides like apigenin, luteolin cynaroside, scolimoside, quercitine and others. The aim of the present study was by an Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) method and visible spectrophotometry to evaluate and compare the radical scavenging capacity towards 1,1 -diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) of ethanol extracts prepared from Cynara scolymus L. seeds and leaves. By both methods we have demonstrated that at any studied concentration of the seeds extract the percent of the scavenged DPPH radicals was considerably higher than that calculated for the leaves extract.