CHEMILUMINESCENT DETERMINATION OF TOTAL ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY IN MEDICINAL PLANT MATERIAL

Medicinal plant material is one of the sources of antioxidants for the human body. Chemiluminescence analysis is one of the common methods of determining the content of antioxidants in plant materials. In our work, chemiluminescence analysis was used to determine the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of fruit decoctions of mountain-ash, rose and hawthorn, as well as raspberry fruit infusion. Experiments established the kinetics of the chemiluminescence of a system consisting of horseradish peroxidase, hydrogen peroxide and luminol. Concentrations and volumes of components of the system were chosen such that strong antioxidants (ascorbic acid) and antioxidants of average force (quercetin) were completely oxidized during measurement (10 minutes). A method for TAC calculation based on changes in chemiluminescence light sum in the presence of plant samples was proposed and substantiated. Analysis of chemiluminescence kinetics showed that antioxidants of average force dominate in the objects studied, including flavonoids and weak antioxidants (tocopherol and others). Comparison of the calculated TAC values for the objects under study and their chemical analysis data showed that products containing the same amount of antioxidants with different ratios of antioxidants by types might vary in their ability to protect the body against the harmful effects of free radicals. The technique described is a promising one for the study of plant objects containing a mixture of different types of antioxidants.