Relative antioxidant and cytoprotective activities of common herbs
Kyung Mi Yoo a,b, Choong Hwan Lee b, Hyungjae Lee a, BoKyung Moon c, Chang Yong Lee a,* a Department of Food Science and Technology, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456, United States b Division of Bioscience and Biotechnology, BMIC, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea c Department of Food and Nutrition, Chung-Ang University, 72-6 Nae-ri, Daedeok-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

Food Chemistry 106 (2008) 929–936

Abstract
Many studies have been carried out on bioactivities of individual herbs, however, no collective study on their comparative antioxidant
and cytoprotective activities against oxidative damage has been reported. We selected 17 common commercial herbs and studied their
relative phenolic contents, antioxidant activities, and cytoprotective activities on gap–junction intercellular communication and antioxidative
enzymes in vitro under the same conditions. Total polyphenol content ranged from 464 to 870 gallic acid equivalents (GAE) mg/
100 g and total flavonoid content from 212 to 494 catechin equivalents (CE) mg/100 g. Among the samples, chamomile, rosehip, hawthorn,
lemon verbena, and green tea contained relatively high total phenolics (769–844 mg GAE/100 g) and flavonoids (400–4 mg CE/
100 g). Chamomile also showed the highest antioxidant activity with 960 mg/100 g of vitamin C equivalent (VCE), followed by hawthorn
(929 mg VCE/100 g) and black tea (916 mg VCE/100 g). Total phenolic and total flavonoids showed a higher correlation with antioxidant
activity. Most of herbs enhanced cell viability and showed protective effects against oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide
in Chinese hamster lung fibroblast (V79-4) cells. Furthermore, herbs used in this study showed higher protective effect on gap–junction
intercellular communication (GJIC) as compared to gallic acid and catechin, and also enhanced activity of the antioxidative enzymes
such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in a dose-dependent manner.
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