Acta Pharm. 57 (2007) 123-129

full paper

Short communication

In vivo antioxidant potential of Teucrium polium,
as compared to α-tocopherol

PARISA HASANI¹, NARGUES YASA², SANAZ VOSOUGH-GHANBARI¹, AZADEH MOHAMMADIRAD¹, GHOLAMREZA DEHGHAN¹ and
MOHAMMAD ABDOLLAHI^1*

mohammad@tums.ac.ir

¹Laboratory of Toxicology, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

²Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Accepted December 5, 2006

The present study was undertaken to explore antioxidant potential of Teucrium polium (Lamiaceae) in vivo. Antioxidant activity was measured by three tests including inhibition of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, total antioxidant power (TAP), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in serum. Rats received dry extract of T. polium in 80% ethanol by intragastric intubation at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg kg^-1 daily for 14 days. Treatment of rats with T. polium extract showed significant antioxidant activity in the DPPH test as compared to the control. T. polium extract at doses of 50 and 100 mg kg^-1 significantly increased rats' TAP and decreased TBARS compared to the control. Administration of T. polium at a dose of 200 mg kg^-1 per day did not significantly alter serum TAP and TBARS. Antioxidant activities of T. polium at doses of 50 and 100 mg kg^-1 were comparable to that of a-tocopherol (10 mg kg^-1) in all experiments.

Keywords: Teucrium polium L. (Lamiaceae), antioxidant, DPPH, TAP, TBARS, a-tocopherol