Flavonoids and antioxidative enzymes in temperature-challenged roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi.

Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant whose bioactive compounds include the fl avones, or fl avone glycosides, respectively, baicalin, baicalein (Fig. 1), wogonoside, wogonin, neobaicalein, visidulin I, and oroxylin A. These compounds possess antiinfl ammatory, antitumour, and anti-HIV activities (Blach-Olszewska et al., 2008). Most S. baicalensis plants grow naturally in northern China, where the average temperature is about 10 °C in spring and autumn and around 30 °C in summer (http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/). Temperature is an important environmental factor that may affect the medicinal quality of S. baicalensis (Li et al., 2008). The baicalin content of S. baicalensis was previously shown to be correlated with the mean temperature in June and July (Yuan et al., 2010). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II reported that many natural systems are being affected by regional Flavonoids and Antioxidative Enzymes in Temperature-Challenged Roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi