J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2001 Mar; 24(5-6): 1055-64.

Evaluation of radical scavenging properties of several plants, fresh or from a herbalist's, using a superoxide dismutase biosensor.

Campanella L, Favero G, Persi L, Tomassetti M.

Department of Chemistry, University of Rome La Sapienza, Piazzale le Aldo Moro, 5-00185 Rome, Italy. campanella@axrma.uniroma.it

The experimental evaluation of properties of defence against free radicals represents an extremely interesting heuristic and applicational objective. Research was carried out to experimentally evaluate the scavenging properties of several fruits and plants, fresh or from a herbalist's using an amperometric superoxide dismutase (SOD) biosensor recently developed by the present authors. The superoxide radical was produced in solution using the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system; measurements were carried out by comparing biosensor response to superoxide radical both in the presence and absence of the sample considered.