Radical Scavenging Effects of Different Veronica Species

It is well known that the excessive production of reactive oxygen species is hazardous for living organisms and damages major cellular constituents such as DNA, lipid and protein. To find new products reducing free radical damage is very important researches in recent pharmaceutical investigations. Considering this information, fourteen Veronica species are decided to research in the view point of their antioxidant capacity and the chemical content. Water extracts of the plants were tested for their radical scavenging activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide (SO) and nitric oxide (NO) radicals spectroscopically. Dose dependent radical scavenging activity was observed and the results were found to be comparable to that of ascorbic acid, quercetin and BHA which are known antioxidative compounds. In addition, gallic acid equivalent total phenolic contents of the plants were also determined using Folin-Ciocalteau reagent. The most significant scavenging activity was found for V. chamaedrys against SO radical (IC50 113.40 mu g/ml) and V. officinalis against DPPH and NO radicals (IC50 40.93 mu g/ml, 570.33 mu g/ml, respectively).