Antioxidant properties of Ballota species growing in Turkey.

In the present study, the antioxidant properties of ethanol extracts of 16 Ballota species belonging to the Lamiaceae family and growing in Turkey on superoxide anion formation and lipid peroxidation were investigated. All extracts inhibited superoxide anion formation but to different extents. The extracts of Ballota antalyense, Ballota macrodonta, Ballota glandulosissima, Ballota larendana, Ballota pseudodictamnus, Ballota nigra subsp. anatolica, Ballota saxatilis subsp. saxatilis, Ballota rotundifolia, and Ballota saxatilis subsp. brachyodonta exhibited remarkable anti-superoxide anion formation with IC(50) values from 0.50 to 0.87 mg/ml. The extracts of Ballota antalyense, Ballota macrodonta and Ballota glandulosissima have the lowest IC(50) values (0.50, 0.51 and 0.51 mg/ml, respectively) which were rather close to the well-known superoxide anion scavenger alpha-tocopherol (IC(50): 0.22 mg/ml). The extracts of Ballota inaequidens, Ballota glandulosissima, Ballota saxatilis subsp. saxatilis, Ballota macrodonta and Ballota antalyense inhibited lipid peroxidation with IC(50) values from 12 to 20 mg/ml. The extracts of Ballota inaequidens (IC(50): 12 mg/ml) and Ballota glandulosissima (IC(50): 15 mg/ml) exhibited the strongest inhibitory effects on lipid peroxidation compared with alpha-tocopherol (IC(50): 3 mg/ml). The results show that Ballota glandulosissima is the best antioxidant source among these 16 Ballota species.