Antioxidant Activity of Aqueous Extract Fractions of
Velvet Antler (Cervus elaphus Linnaeus)

LEI ZHAO1,2, RUI-SONG PEI2, BAO-PING JI2*, YANG-CHAO LUO3,
DI ZHANG2, ZHONG-YI XU2 AND XIAO-NAN JIA2

1. College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University,
33 Fucheng Road Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China
2. College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, 17 Qinghua East Road
Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China
3. 0112 Skinner Building, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland College Park, Maryland 20742, U.S.A.

(Received: March 12, 2010; Accepted: May 31, 2010)

ABSTRACT

Velvet antler is believed to have body strengthening, immunomodulatory and anti-aging effects. It is used in Chinese commercial functional foods and nutraceuticals. The antioxidant activity of the aqueous extract of velvet antler (AEVA) from Cervus elaphus Linnaeus was evaluated with DPPH-radical scavenging, FRAP, Fe2+-chelating and inhibition of linoleic acid autoxidation assays. AEVA showed antioxidant activity in all four assays. After removal of protein from AEVA, the antioxidant activity was significantly elevated. A semi-preparative HPLC equipped with a C18 column was used for further separation of the non-protein components (AEVA-S). Identification of the most active fraction (AEVA-SII) of AEVA-S was accomplished by LC/MS, HPLC and UV/Vis analyses. The HPLC chromatogram showed five main peaks identified as nucleotides (3′-CMP, 2′-CMP, 3′-UMP and 2′-UMP) and hypoxanthine. Nucleotides in AEVA-SII exhibited no free-radical scavenging and ferric-reducing activity. Only UMP exhibited Fe2+-chelating activity which accounted for 34.75% of the total Fe2+-chelating activity of AEVA-SII. The results indicated that other unidentified components with antioxidant activity were present in AEVA-SII.

Key words: velvet antler, nucleotides, antioxidant, HPLC, LC/MS

Velvet antler is believed to have body strengthening, immunomodulatory and anti-aging effects. It is used in Chinese commercial functional foods and nutraceuticals. The antioxidant activity of the aqueous extract of velvet antler (AEVA) from Cervus elaphus Linnaeus was evaluated with DPPH-radical scavenging, FRAP, Fe2+-chelating and inhibition of linoleic acid autoxidation assays. AEVA showed antioxidant activity in all four assays. After removal of protein from AEVA, the antioxidant activity was significantly elevated. A semi-preparative HPLC equipped with a C18 column was used for further separation of the non-protein components (AEVA-S). Identification of the most active fraction (AEVA-SII) of AEVA-S was accomplished by LC/MS, HPLC and UV/Vis analyses. The HPLC chromatogram showed five main peaks identified as nucleotides (3′-CMP, 2′-CMP, 3′-UMP and 2′-UMP) and hypoxanthine. Nucleotides in AEVA-SII exhibited no free-radical scavenging and ferric-reducing activity. Only UMP exhibited Fe2+-chelating activity which accounted for 34.75% of the total Fe2+-chelating activity of AEVA-SII. The results indicated that other unidentified components with antioxidant activity were present in AEVA-SII. velvet antler, nucleotides, antioxidant, HPLC, LC/MS