Antioxidant activity and chemical composition of the fractions from burdock leaves

The antioxidant activities of each burdock leaves fraction were first investigated alone and in combination with tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ). The burdock leaves extract was fractioned with petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water, named as PF, EF, BF, and WF, respectively. The EF exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. Although TBHQ exhibited higher lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity than EF, the reducing power, superoxide anion scavenging capability, DPPH radical and hydroxyl radicals scavenging ability of EF were higher than those of synthetic antioxidant (TBHQ). Moreover, a synergistic antioxidant effect between EF and TBHQ was first demonstrated by isobolographic analysis, indicating that EF dramatically enhances the antioxidant efficiency of TBHQ. For all the fractions, the antioxidant capacity had a significant correlation with total phenolic content. The phenolic compounds of the fractions were then identified, namely chlorogenic acid, o-hydrobenzoic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, and rutin. The results indicate that the EF could be used as sources of nature antioxidant in food industry, and allows a decrease of about 4 folds in the amounts of the synthetic compounds used.