Antioxidant and free radical scavenging effects of β-amyrin isolated from S. cochinchinensis Moore. leaves

beta-Amyrin isolated from Symplocos cochinchinensis Moore. leaves was evaluated for the effects on free radicals, antioxidant enzymes and liver protection on CCl4 induced oxidative stress in Wistar rats. beta-Amyrin showed very good scavenging effects on 2,2-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (IC50 89.63 +/- 1.31 mu g/ml, AAI = 1.11), hydroxyl (IC50 76.41 +/- 1.65 mu g/ml, AAI = 1.30), nitric oxide (IC50 87.03 +/- 0.85 mu g/ml, AAI = 1.14) and superoxide (IC50 81.28 +/- 1.79 mu g/ml, AAI = 1.23) radicals as well as high reducing power and strong suppressive effect-on lipid peroxidation. In in vivo study, pre-treatment of rats with beta-amyrin at 50 mg/kg for 7 days showed significant reduction in the levels of SGOT, SGPT and LDH compared to CCl4 treated rats. SOD, CAT, GSH and GPx levels were increased significantly after treatment with beta-amyrin. These results clearly demonstrated that beta-amyrin possessed marked antioxidant activity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.