Values of antioxidant activities (ABTS and DPPH) and ferric reducing and chelating powers of gamma-irradiated rosemary extract

Abstract This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of the various gamma dose irradiations on the antioxidant activity of rosemary PBS (phosphate-buffered saline) extract. The PBS extract of rosemary was irradiated with gamma rays at the doses of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kGy, and their antioxidant activities were investigated by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl), radical cation ABTS •+ (2,2-Azino-Bis (3-Ethylbenzthiazoline-6-Sulfonic Acid), Diammonium Salt), ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP) and ferric chelating capacity using ferrozine. The scavenging activities of gamma irradiated rosemary were observed to be significantly higher at 30 and 40 kGy using both methods, DPPH and ABST. Also, the reducing power values of 30 kGy gamma irradiated rosemary were higher than that of non-irradiated (P < 0.05) and the other doses of irradiation could not make any significant difference in reducing power of non-irradiated rosemary. The gamma irradiation of rosemary (at 10–50 kGy), significantly increased the Fe 2+ chelating activity compared to non-irradiated rosemary while increasing the absorbed doses reduced Fe 2+ chelating activity in rosemary (P < 0.05). There is no significant difference in the rosemary irradiated with 10 kGy and 30 kGy. The gamma irradiated rosemary showed higher antioxidant activities at doses of 30 kGy (79.5 %) and 40 kGy (80 %) with DPPH method, while slightly lower activities were recorded at doses of 30 kGy (34.8 %) and 40 kGy (34.2 %) with ABTS test. Also, results indicate that the 30 kGy might be an effective dose with maximum enhancement in the antioxidant properties of the gamma irradiated rosemary.