Determination of antioxidant and radical scavenging activities of some Lamiaceae species belonging to flora of Gaziantep

In this study, the in vitro antioxidant activities of methanol, n-hexane and essential oil extracts of Ajuga chamaepitys, Lallemantia iberica, Lamium amplexicaule, Marrubium parviflorum, Mentha pulegium, Moluccella laevis, Phlomis armeniaca, Salvia multicaulis, Salvia palaestina, Salvia syriaca, Satureja aintabensis, Scutellaria tomentosa, Teucrium polium and Ziziphora capitata species that grown naturally in Gaziantep province were determined by DPPH, ABTS, reducing power, metal chelating, ß-carotene linoleic acid inhibition and DNA nicking assays. The methanol extract of T. polium had the highest antioxidant activity among tested plants (p<0.05). Also, total contents of phenolic, flavonoid and flavonols of these plants were measured. The highest total phenolic content was determined in T. polium. A positive correlation was observed between phenolic contents and antioxidant activities were found to be statistically important. Moreover, compositions of essential oils were determined by GC-MS analyses. In addition, phenolic acids in methanol extracts were detected by HPLC-DAD. Rosmarinic acid and o-coumaric acid were found in all tested plants. Also, gallic, syringic, tr-cinnamic, p-chateshuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, chlorogenic, ferulic, caffeic, vanilic and p-coumaric acids were determined in different amounts.