Radical Scavenging, Reducing Power, Lipid Peroxidation Inhibition and Chelating Properties of Extracts from Artemisia campestris L. Aerial Parts

In this study, we estimated the antioxidant activity of various extracts prepared from Artemisia campestris L. aerial parts used in Algeria to treat gastro-intestinal disorders. The determination of polyphenols and flavonoids contents showed that the ethyl acetate extract (EAE) is rich in phenolic compounds with 481.25±0.026 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight, while the chloroform extract (CHE) had the highest content of flavonoid with 34.37±0.056 mg quercetin equivalent/g dry weight. The evaluation of DPPH scavenging activity of extracts confirmed that EAE is the most active extract with IC50 of 0.0058 mg/ml. In addition, EAE showed the most scavenging activity against hydroxyl radical generated in the H2O2/Fe+2 system with IC50 of 0.17 mg/ml which is comparable to the activity of the standard antioxidant ascorbic acid (0.15 mg/ml). Ferrous ion chelating capacity assay showed that aqueous extract (AQE) was the most active with 0.11 mg/ml. The inhibition of linoleic acid/ß-carotene coupled oxidation was estimated by the ß- carotene bleaching assay, which showed a highest relative antioxidant activity for the crude extract (CE) (82.72% of inhibition). In conclusion, the present study showed that EAE of A. campestris L. is rich in phenolics and flavonoids and has a considerable antioxidant activity.