We have assesed the actions as free radical scavengers and inhibitors on pe
roxidation of hesperidin and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, two flavonoids,
flavanone and dihydrochalcone respectively, as some of the pharmacological
properties of flavonoids group have been related with these activities.
Hesperidin just at 10(-4) and 5 . 10(-4)M is able to show a low inhibitory
activity in the superoxide anion radicals (O-2(-)) genesis (8.66 +/- 1.40 a
nd 11.69 +/- 2.36% respectively), and on the non-enzymatic lipid peroxidati
on at 10(-3)M dose (9.78 +/- 0.35%), without affecting the hydroxyl radical
((OH)-O-.) formation, generated by the ascorbic acid-Fe3+-EDTA system. In
the other hand, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone is an authentic antioxidant d
rug as tested at all doses. It showed a great scavenger activity and/or inh
ibition of formation on O-2(-) radicals (31.53 - 84.62%) and a significant
scavenging effect on OH radicals (6.00 - 23.49%), as well as an important i
nhibitory action on non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation (15.43 - 95.33%).