Antioxidant Potential of galls of Quercus infectoria

Abstract

Nowadays, the fact of harmful effect of reactive oxygen species on human health is well-known. The capability of natural defense systems of living organisms against excess production of these species decreases when influenced with negative environmental factors or aging. As a result, different cellular and extracellular components, and especially nucleic acids, are damaged, causing or enhancing a number of degenerative diseases. Therefore, antioxidants that scavenge free radicals are of great value in preventing such “oxidative” pathologies. That is why natural products with antioxidant properties become more and more popular all over the world. Natural phenolic phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables have been receiving increased interest from consumers and researchers for their beneficial health effects on coronary heart diseases and cancers mainly due to their antioxidant activity. 1 As plants produce a lot of antioxidants to control the oxidative stress caused by sunbeams and oxygen, they can represent a source of new compounds with antioxidant activity. Among natural antioxidants, phenolic antioxidants are in the forefront since all the phenolic classes (simple phenolics, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, and flavonoids) have the structural requirements of free radical scavengers and antioxidants 2