Study of antioxidant effect of apigenin, luteolin and quercetin by DNA protective method

A DNA protective capacity of three flavonoids, apigenin (AP), luteolin (LU) and quercetin (QU) against free radicals generated by H2O2, resp. Fe2+ is reported. This effect corresponding with scavenging of free radicals or wit h chelating of iron was assayed at two concentrations of flavonoids studied (1 muM and 10 muM). The quantitative analysis has shown that LU possesses the highest DNA protective effect of flavonoids investigated in the presenc e of H2O2 On the other hand, in the presence of 10 muM Fe2+, AP exhibited t he highest DNA protective effect at the concentration of 1 muM and the foll owing order was reached at the stoichiometric concentrations (10 muM) of Fe 2+. It is believed that this discrepancy is caused by the ability of LU and QU iron-complex formation as it was separately investigated using UV-VIS s pectrometry.