Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the essential oil composition and antioxidant activity of methanolic extracts from fruits and flowers of Hypericum lydium Boiss., a wild growing species of the Turkish flora. The antioxidant activities were determined through several biochemical assays. Both extracts showed an inhibitory effect against the formation of TBARS in a phosphatidylcholine liposome model system, moderate scavenging effect on DPPH center dot and superoxide radicals, prominent reducing power and inhibitory effect on deoxyribose degradation in both the nonsite and site-specific assay, but a greater hydroxyl radical scavenging activity was observed in the non-site specific assay, suggesting that the extracts were better at scavenging hydroxyl radicals than at chelating iron. Correlation analysis indicated that there was a linear relationship between antioxidant potency, free-radical scavenging activity, reducing power and the content of flavonoids of fruits and flowers extracts. The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. In total forty-three compounds were identified. The most abundant components were monoterpenes hydrocarbons represented principally by alpha-pinene. The tested oil showed no antioxidant activity. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.