Spectrophotometric Determination of Anti-oxidation Capacity of Extract of Dangguibuxuetang Decoction and the 2 Componental Single Medicinal Herbs

A comparative study on the anti-oxidation capacity of aqueous and ethanol extracts containing angelica and astragalus membranaceus of the Dangguibuxuetang decoction and the 2 componental single herbs was made.Hydroxyl free radical produced by the Fenton reaction was reacted with salicylic acid in an acetate buffer medium of pH 4.6,to form a reddish violet product,2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid with its absorption maximum at 510 nm,where the absorbance was measured.When any of the anti-oxidative ingredient in the medicines was added to the above mentioned reaction system,decrease of absorbance of the color reaction was observed due to the elimination of ·OH group by the anti-oxidative ingredient.Based on these facts,the anti-oxidation capacity of the medicines was studied.As shown by the tested results,both the extracts of the compound haematic decoction and the single medicinal herbs showed good anti-oxidation capacity against the ·OH free radical,however,higher anti-oxidation capacity was obtained with the extracts (either aqueous or ethanol) of the decoction.But as comparing the anti-oxidation capacity between the aqueous extract and ethanol extract,better results were found with the former.