Antioxidant Properties of Triterpenes from Poria cocos Peel

The antioxidant properties of crude triterpenes extracted from the outer peel of Poria cocos with methanol were evaluated by chemiluminescence and colorimetric methods,and compared to those of ursolic acid.The results showed that triterpenes from Poria cocos peel could effectively eliminate superoxide anion and hydroxyl free radicals as well as hydrogen peroxide in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 of 1.01,0.91 mg/mL and 0.87 mg/mL,respectively.Meanwhile,these compounds revealed better inhibition effect on red blood cell hemolysis and scavenging effect on malondialdehyde(MDA) generated by lipid peroxidation.