African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 10(17), pp. 3451-3454, 25 April, 2011
Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJB
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2011 Academic Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Antioxidant activity and separation of phenolic
compounds of Origanum glandulosum from north
Algeria by high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC)
Oukil Naima, Bedjou Fatiha
*
, Maiza-Benabdesselam Fadila and Chibane Mohamed
Faculty of Life and Nature Sciences -University Abderrahmane MIRA of Béjaia – Terga Ouzemmour – 06000- Béjaia-
Algeria
Accepted 10 March, 2011
Origanum glandulosum is an endemic plant of North African area (Algeria and Tunisia), used against
infections like whooping cough and bronchitis. In this study, its antioxidant activity is evaluated. The
results showed that the scavenging effect against DPPH is equal to 6730 mg/ml (IC
50
). However, the
scavenger effect of H
2
O
2
estimated at 60.78% is very strong compared to the effects of BHA, BHT and -
tocopherol estimated respectively at 19, 25 and 23%. The scavenger effect of H
2
O
2
is very strong
compared to the scavenging of DPPH. A high scavenging effect is generally due to high content of
phenolic compounds, phenolic acids and flavonoids. The results may suggest that O. glandulosum
extract possesses compounds with antioxidant activity; these substances can play an important role in
the prevention of free radical induced diseases.
Key words: Phenolic compounds, Origanum glandulosum, HPLC, antioxidant, flavonoids.
INTRODUCTION
Origanum glandulosum is an endemic widely distributed
taxon of the North African region (Algeria and Tunisia). It
is considered as brushwood (Quezel and Santa, 1963;
Leclerc, 1990; Bendahou et al., 2008). Several studies
have shown that O. glandulosum taxon is rich in essential
oils, phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and
phenolic acids (Benzanger-beauquesne et al., 1980,
1990; Nakiboglu et al., 2007). In Algeria, this plant is used
against infections like whooping cough, cough, fever and
bronchitis (Bendahou et al., 2008).
The purpose of this study was the estimation of the
total phenolic content of O. glandulosum using the
*Corresponding author. E-mail: fadilamaiza@yahoo.fr. Tel:
00213771449217.
Fax: 00213214762.
Abbreviations: BHA, Butyl hydroxyanisol; BHT, butyl
hydroxyltoluene; DPPH, 1,1 diphenyl-2-picryl hydroxyl.
Classical Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, the determination of
their antioxidant activity using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH assay), the H
2
O
2
scavenging effects and the
analysis of the chemical composition of methanolic
extract by HPLC chromatography, to estimate the number of
major components of this plant. The choice of this
investigation is based on two criteria; firstly, there are few
studies in this domain in Algeria and the second criterion
is the traditional utilization of O. glandulosum.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Plant materials
Samples of aerial parts (leaves, twigs and flowers) of individual
plants were collected in the region of Boukhlifa (Béjaia) (36°41’ 19°,
39’ N; 5°06’ 26°, 56’ S; alt.1.00 Km) during June 2007. Identification
of plants was made by the botanical laboratory of Béjaia University.
Crude extracts
The medicinal plants collected were harvested, dried and ground to