Antioxidant Activity of Rubus crataegifolius Bge. Fruit Extracts

We investigated the fruits of Rubus crataegifolius Bge, a plant which has been traditionally used in Korea in phytotherapy, to describe antioxidant materials from plant sources. R. crataegifolius fruits were extracted with methanol and further fractionated into n-hexane, diethyl ether, and ethyl acetate. The antioxidant activity of each fraction and the residue was assessed using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), H 2 O 2 radical scavenging method, and their cytotoxicity on human primary kerationcyte (HK) was determined by an MTS assay. The R. crataegifolius fruit methanol extract showed strong antioxidant activity (75.04%, 50%) compared with vitamin C (79.9%, 54.1%) by the DPPH, and H2O2 method, respectively. The measured activity from the subsequent extracts of the methanol extract were 20.3% for n-hexane fraction (HF), 68.8% for diethyl ether fraction (DF), 67.1% for ethyl acetate fraction (EF), and 67.1% for the residue fraction (RE) by DPPH and 2.2% for HF, 1.6% for DF, 10% for EF, and 50% for the RE by H 2 O 2 assay. An oxidative stress model of HK was established under a suitable concentration (1 mM). The cell viability of the RE treated group increased and the percentage of apoptotic cells decreased at concentrations of 0.005-0.02% RE compared with the H 2 O 2 treated group. Fruit extracts of the medicinal plant R. crataegifolius showed potent antioxidant activity and the ability to relieve cell damage from H 2 O 2 induced injury to HK.