Study on antioxidant activity of Malus halliana Koehne

To study the antioxidant activity of flowers and leaves of Malus halliana Koehne harvested in different months, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl( DPPH) radical scavenging,[2,2'-azino-bis( 3-ethylbenzothiazoline)-6-sulphonic acid] diamonium salt( ABTS) radical scavenging and ferric reducing antioxidant power( FRAP) assay were applied with BHT as positive control. Among twelve extracts of the leaves and flowers of M. halliana,the results showed that the n-butanol extract from March leaves had the best DPPH radical scavenging activity( IC 50 = 35. 80 μg / mL) and ferric reducing antioxidant power( TEAC = 869. 73 μmol / g),which were still weaker than that of the positive control BHT( IC 50 = 23. 00 μg/mL and TEAC = 1532. 70μmol/g respectively). The ethyl acetate extract of leaves collected in March exhibited the highest free radical scavenging activity( IC 50 = 3. 50 μg / mL),but it was still inferior to positive control BHT( IC 50 = 2. 30 μg / mL). It demonstrated that antioxidant activity of M. halliana was weak. The extract of leaves harvested in March had better activities than that of leaves harvested in July,and the antioxidant activities of extract of leaves were higher than that of flowers.