Assessment of antioxidant activity of extracts from unique Greek varieties of Leguminosae plants using in vitro assays.

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BACKGROUND: It is believed that legumes are a very good source of micronutrients and phytochemicals that present chemopreventive activity against diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and colon cancer. Methanolic and aqueous extracts from 11 unique varieties of Leguminosae family plants cultured in Greece were tested using three different in vitro assays in order to investigate the mechanisms by which phytochemicals present in these legumes exert their chemoprevention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The extracts were tested by the 1, -diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay, the hydroxyl radical- and the peroxyl radical-induced DNA strand scission assays. Hydroxyl (OH*) and peroxyl (ROO*) radicals were generated from ultraviolet (UV) photolysis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and thermal decomposition of 2,2'-azobis-(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH) respectively. RESULTS: In the DPPH assay, all the tested extracts displayed potent radical scavenging efficiency. Furthermore, most of the Leguminosae family plant extracts exerted significant protective activity against DNA damage induced by both reactive oxygen species, although they were more effective in inhibiting ROO*-induced rather than OH*-induced DNA strand scission. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the free radical scavenging activity of Leguminosae plants may be one of the mechanisms accounting for their chemoprevention.

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