Antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity appraisal of four selected Fumaria species and their total phenol and flavonoid quantities.

Fumaria species (Fumariaceae) have been recorded to be used traditionally against liver-related disorders in many countries including Turkey. Oxidative stress is also known to be strongly associated with hepatic problems. Consequently, in the current study, the ethanol extracts of four Fumaria species; F. cilicica Hausskn., F. densiflora DC., F. kralikii Jordan and F. parviflora Lam. growing in Turkey were initially screened for their in vitro antioxidant activities by three methods; 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging test, Fe(+2)-ferrozine test system for metal chelating test and ferric-ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) at 250, 500 and 1000 μg/ml concentrations. Then, each of the ethanol extracts was fractionated into petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol fractions and their antioxidant activities were estimated by DPPH radical scavenging and xanthine oxidase inhibition tests at 1000 μg/ml. In both tests, the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions of F. cilicica were found to be the most active and were further investigated in in vivo hepatoprotective activity experiment against toxicity induced by CCl(4). Total phenol and flavonoid quantities of the ethanol extracts were determined spectrophotometrically using Folin-Ciocalteau's and AlCl(3) reagents, respectively. Our data revealed that the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions of F. cilicica did not have hepatoprotective effect and the ethanol extracts exerted low antioxidant activity. Although protective effect of some Fumaria species in hepatic diseases was shown in several previous studies, this record seems to be not pertinent for F. cilicica.