[Antioxidative effect of three water-soluble components isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza in vitro]

The antioxidative effect of three water-soluble components isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza has been investigated. All the three components were found to inhibit both NADPH-vit C and Fe(2+)-cysteine induced lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde formation) in rat brain, liver and kidney microsomes in vitro. The order of their inhibitory effect is as follows: salvianolic acid A, salvianolic acid B and rosmarinic acid. The inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation induced by NADPH-Vit C was more than that induced by Fe(2+)-cysteine. In addition, the three compounds lowered the production of superoxide anion radical (O2-) in xanthine-xanthine oxidase system. The order of their potency was similar to that in antilipoperoxidation. The above results suggest that the three components have strong antilipoperoxidant activity in vitro, which may be partly through scavenging O2-..