Influence of Applied Pressure and Heat Treatment on Antioxidant Activities of Young Leaves from Achillea alpina and Solidago virgaurea subsp. gigantea

Present studies were conducted to investigate the effects of autoclaving on antioxidant activities of Achillea alpina and Solodago virgurea. At early April, young leaves of 2 species were collected, subjected to autoclaving (, 1.2 atmospheric pressure, 15 minutes), freezed-dried, grinded, and extracted with 80% ethanol. The same process was repeated with unautoclaved control. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents, scavenging activities on DPPH and ABTS radicals and ferrous ion chelating effects were analyzed. Extraction yield of autoclaved S. virgurea was 39.55% and A. alpina 28.15%. In both species, autoclaving significantly reduced scavenging activities on DPPH and ABTS radicals. On the contrary, ferrous ion chelating effects increased after autoclaving, especially in young leaves of A. alpina. Autoclaving resulted in decrease of polyphenol and flavonoid contents, especially in the A. alpina. The present experiments demonstrated that autoclaving had negative effects on antioxidant activities of A. alpina and S. virgurea, except in ferrous ion chelating effects. Young leaves of former species were unstable to heat treatment, resulting in big lose of antioxidant activity.