Antioxidant activity of the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of Marchantia polymorpha L., which grows naturally in Turkey, was tested by DPPH and ABTS methods. According to the applied methods, both extracts exhibited moderate activity. | Turk J Biol 36 (2012) 381-385 © TÜBİTAK doi: Antioxidant activity and luteolin content of Marchantia polymorpha L. Alper GÖKBULUT1, Basri SATILMIŞ2, Kadir BATÇIOĞLU2, Barbaros ÇETİN3, Engin ŞARER1 1 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, 06100 Ankara-TURKEY 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, İnönü University, Malatya-TURKEY 3 Department of Biology, Science Faculty, Ankara University, Ankara-TURKEY Received: ● Accepted: Abstract: Antioxidant activity of the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of Marchantia polymorpha L., which grows naturally in Turkey, was tested by DPPH and ABTS methods. According to the applied methods, both extracts exhibited moderate activity. Some phenolic compounds that could be responsible for the activity were investigated by RP-HPLC, qualitatively and quantitatively, in the methanolic extract of liverwort. While caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, rutin, myricetin, quercetin, and kaempferol were not found in the extract, luteolin as the liable antioxidant agent was determined as ± among the investigated compounds. Key words: Marchantia, antioxidant activity, RP-HPLC, phenolic compounds, luteolin Introduction Liverworts and mosses are small, low-growing plants and constitute the phylum Bryophyta, which is phylogenetically placed between vascular plants and algae. Bryophyta has more than 20,000 members all over the world, and nearly 3000 bryophytes are reported to have medicinal value. The members of this unique division in the plant kingdom are now increasingly used as new sources of pharmaceuticals. One interesting class of bryophytes, the liverworts, possesses different therapeutic activities and has been therapeutically applied worldwide, especially in Indian culture. Marchantia species are among the important traditional Chinese medicinal herbs and are used in particular for the treatment of hepatitis and skin disorders owing to .
