Estandarización de la técnica blanqueamiento del betacaroteno para la evaluación de la actividad antioxidante de extractos lipofílicos: plantas medicinales, frutos y microalgas

Abstract

The present study aimed to standardize the beta carotene bleaching assay, which to be used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of lipophilic compounds, the variable to was analyzed was the use of two different surfactants (Tween 20 and Tween 80). The standardization shown that the ideal surfactant is Tween 20. The technique was applied to an antioxidant (BHT), used as a standard and three vegetable extracts stored in the laboratory of Phytochemistry of the VLIR-IUC Medicinal Plants Project. This research aimed to provide a useful tool on the standardization of carotene blanching technique for its application in the field of research. This study included the determination of the antioxidant activity and the IC50 of fresh and stored extracts of the following vegetables: red pepper (Capsicum annuum), carrot (Daucus carota), infant grass (Desmodium molliculum), human flesh (Jungia rugosa) and microalgae such as green microalgae (Scenedesmus sp), orange algae (without identifying genus and species). We also included quantification of total carotenoids of these samples and analyzed the relationship between antioxidant activity and total carotenoid content, resulting that red pepper has the highest carotenoid content followed by carrot, infant herb, Human flesh, orange microalgae and green microalgae.