TOTAL PHENOL, FLAVONOID AND HEAVY METAL CONTENT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF ORIGANUM VULGARE L.

Water, ethanol and water-ethanol (1:1, v/v) extractsofthe (ethno)pharmacologically valued plant species Origanum vulgare L. were studied for the total phenol (TP), flavonoid (TF) and heavy metal (HM; Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn) content. All three prepared extracts contained a rather high amount of phenolics (23.6-75.2 mg gallic acid equivalents/g) and a low amount of flavonoid compounds (1.0-2.1 mg quercetin equivalents/g). In addition, the content of (toxic) metals (Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn) was low (0.4-153 mg/kg). Antioxidant potential of the extracts was determined using a DPPH assay and correlated with TP, TF and HM. According to the obtained results, the high observed radical scavenging activity (75.1-93.8%) is mostly related to the presence of flavonoid and other phenolic compounds. SADRŽAJ UKUPNIH FENOLA, FLAVONOIDA I TEŠKIH METALA, KAO I ANTIOKISIDATIVNA AKTIVNOST EKSTRAKATA BILJNE VRSTE ORIGANUM VULGARE L. U ovom radu su izloženi rezultati ispitivanja sadržaja ukupnih fenola (TP), flavonoida (TF) i teških metala (HM; Zn, Fe, Cu i Mn) u vodenom, etanolnom i vodeno-etanolnom (1:1, v/v) ekstraktu (etno)farmakološki cenjene biljne vrste Origanum vulgare L. U svim ispitivanim ekstraktima je utvrđeno prisustvo relativno visoke koncentracije fenolnih jedinjenja (23,6-75,2 mg ekvivalenata galne kiseline/g) i niske koncentracije flavonoida (1,0-2,1 mg ekvivalenata kvercetina/g). Pored toga, sadržaj (toksičnih) metala (Zn, Fe, Cu i Mn) je bio relativno nizak (0,4-153 mg/kg). Antioksidativni potencijal ispitivanih ekstrakata je određen DPPH metodom i korelisan sa TP, TF i HM. Na osnovu dobijenih rezultata, jaka antioksidativna aktivnost (75,1-93,8%) ekstrakata je uglavnom posledica prisustva flavonoida i drugih fenolnih jedinjenja