antioxidants in thyme

Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Mon, 5 Jul 1999 19:00:06 -0700 (PDT)

Authors
Haraguchi H. Saito T. Ishikawa H. Date H. Kataoka S. Tamura Y. Mizutani K.
Institution
Faculty of Engineering, Fukuyama University, Japan. Title
Antiperoxidative components in Thymus
vulgaris.
Source
Planta Medica. 62(3):217-21, 1996 Jun. Abstract
A biphenyl compound,
3,4,3',4'-tetrahydroxy-5,5'-diisopropyl-2,2'-dimethylbiphenyl (1), and a flavonoid, eriodicytol (2), were isolated as antioxidative components from the leaves of Thymus vulgaris by bioassay-directed fractionation. These compounds inhibited superoxide anion production in the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system. Mitochondrial and microsomal lipid peroxidation induced by Fe(III)-ADP/NADH or Fe(III)-ADP/NADPH were also inhibited by these compounds. Compound 1 is an extremely potent antioxidant; complete inhibition was observed at 1 microM against both microsomal and mitochondrial peroxidation. Furthermore, compound 1 protected red cells against oxidative hemolysis. These phenolic compounds were shown to be effective to protect biological systems against various oxidative stresses.