Synergistic antiradical action of natural antioxidants and herbal mixture for preventing dioxin toxicity

Abstract

The herbs danggui (Angelica gigas) and clove (Eugenia caryophyllata) and 4 natural antioxidants were combined in order to investigate whether or not they exhibited synergistic effects (SEs) on DPPH radical scavenging capacity. SEs were determined using the ratio between experimental scavenging capacity (ESC) and theoretical scavenging capacity (TSC). In all tested mixtures, SEs were observed, indicating ESC/TSC ratios greater than 1. The highest SE (p < 0.01) was observed for the solution combining alpha-tocopherol (20 mu g/mL) and quercetin (0.7 mu g/mL) with danggui of 0.3 mg/mL and clove of 0.05 mg/mL. The addition of lipid-soluble antioxidants resulted in greater SEs than the addition of water-soluble antioxidants. The excellent SE appeared when quercetin was added to the herb mixture, while the addition of ascorbic acid did not result in SE. The results indicate that the combinations of compounds with different antiradical effects may more effectively protect oxidative stress than alone.