EVALUATION OF THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF TWO ENDEMIC GOLDEN CAMELLIA SPECIES (CAMELLIA TAMDAOENSIS NINH ET HAKODA AND CAMELLIA TIENII NINH) IN VIETNAM

Abstract

Vietnam is one of the countries that possesses the most numbers of Camellia species worldwide. However, the number of publications regarding this plant in comparison to their biodiversity is very limited up to the present time. Therefore, we aim to measure the total phenolic content of methanol extracts obtained from the leaves of two endemic Golden Camellia species including Camellia tamdaoensis Ninh et Hakoda (CTNH) and Camellia tienii Ninh (CTN) and then evaluate their antioxidant activity by using DPPH and ABTS methods. We found that the leaves extracts from CTNH and CTN species contain high amounts of phenolic compounds at 492.3 ± 129.1 and 644.7 ± 116.2 mg GAE/g, respectively. The antioxidant assays indicated that CTNH and CTN species had a great antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ 9.00 ± 1.72 and 15.28 ± 3.62 µg/mL, respectively, for DPPH and IC₅₀ were 6.75 ± 1.31 and 7.15 ± 0.89 µg/mL, respectively, for ABTS assays. These findings suggest that CTNH and CTN can be considered as a potential antioxidant source.