Antioxidant Activity of Water Extract of Harng Jyur (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat)

The antioxidant activity of water extracts of Harng Jyur (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat) from four varieties, including Huang Harng Jyur (HHJ), Bai Harng Jyur (BHJ), Gan Harng Jyur (GHJ), and Kung Harng Jyur (KHJ), was investigated. The water extracts of the four Harng Jyur varieties showed strong antioxidant activity in linoleic acid and liposome model systems. Each extract at 20 mg exhibited 65.3–71.8% inhibition on malondialdehyde formation of rat liver homogenate in vitro, greater than 20 mg of tocopherol. A correlation established between the total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity, yielded a coefficient of r2=0.934, 0.997, 0.758 and 0.983 for HHJ, BHJ, GHJ and KHJ respectively. Each extract of the four Harng Jyur varieties had effective activities as radical scavengers, metal chelators, and active oxygen scavengers. These properties may be the major reasons for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation. Of the four varieties, BHJ was the most significant antioxidative material. No mutagenicity in the four varieties was found in Salmonella typhimurium TA 98, either with or without S9 mix.