Antioxidant activity of dihydrofurocoumarins from Corydalis heterocarpa

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to report the results of investigations into the antioxidant effect of dihydrofurocoumarins (1-6), isolated from the salt marsh plant Corydalis heterocarpa. The scavenging activities of the isolated compounds against DPPH radicals, hydroxyl radicals, and superoxide radicals were evaluated by electron spin resonance. The protective activities of these compounds against hydroxyl radical-mediated genomic DNA damage and peroxynitrite-mediated dihydrorhodamine oxidation were also investigated. The experimental results show that most compounds had antioxidant activity but their capabilities differed a little for the different indicators. Among them, compound 6 exerted the strongest antioxidant activity at a concentration of 100 mu M/mL for all tested bioassay systems, compared with other compounds.