Investigation into the Antioxidant Activity of Standardized Plant Extracts with Pharmaceutical Potential

Abstract

Given the important role of antioxidants in the cellular degeneration process, as well as the increased interest in recent years related to the use of natural antioxidants in therapy, the present study aims to investigate the antioxidant activity of a new pharmaceutical product containing natural antioxidants extracted from plant raw materials. In a first step, the product conventionally named “CILTAG”, containing a mixture in equal proportions of 10% hydroalcoholic extractive solutions of dried plant raw materials from Medicaginis herba, Trifolii pratense flores, Ginkgo bilobae folium, Myrtilli fructus, and Cynosbati fructus, was obtained. In the second stage, the antioxidant activity of the hydroalcoholic extractive solutions included in the pharmaceutical product was tested by chemiluminescence and electrochemical methods and by the superoxide dismutase (SOD) method. The electrochemical determination of the antioxidant capacity of hydroalcoholic extractive solutions was based on a method that provides an indirect evaluation of the presumed antioxidant properties of some compounds using Trolox (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid), as a standard measurement. The experimental results indicate a significant antioxidant potential for both the analyzed plant extractive solutions that are part of CILTAG and the final product.