Antioxidant activity of extracts from plants growing in Sardinia

The present work was carried out to study the effect of some plant methanol extracts and essential oils on lipid peroxidation in simple in vitro syste ms. The tested extracts were obtained from four plants, commonly known in t he Mediterranean area, indigenous to Sardinia: Artemisia arborescens L., Ca lycotome villosa L., Daphne gnidium L. or naturalized in the island, Eucaly ptus globulus Labill. The activity of the extracts was investigated during both autoxidation and iron or EDTA-mediated oxidation of linoleic acid at 3 7 degreesC in the absence of solvent, and compared with that of BHT, alpha -tocopherol and EDTA. During linoleic acid autoxidation all the extracts we re active, showing an antioxidant activity in the order: BHT > alpha -tocop herol > Daphne gnidium (methanol extract) > Eucalyptus globulus (essential oil) > Calycotome villosa (essential oil) > Artemisia arborescens (essentia l oil and methanol extract) > Calycotome villosa (methanol extract). None s howed any prooxidant activity. During the iron-catalysed oxidation of linol eic acid the oils were not active, while all the methanol extracts showed s ome efficiency in preventing the oxidation process. All the extracts were a lso tested on cell cultures to investigate their cytotoxic activity or thei r ability to inhibit the growth of some pathogenic microorganisms. Copyrigh t (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.