Evaluation of synergistic antioxidant and antimutagenic effects in mixtures of three Jarilla species from Argentina for infusions preparation

Abstract

The species of jarilla including to Zuccagnia punctata Cav. (Zp), Larrea cuneifolia Cav. (Lc) and Larrea divaricata Cav. (Ld), are examples of plants, commonly used in argentinian local communities, with medicinal properties on their own, but that can be improved when mixed. In the present work, the antioxidant and antimutagenic activity were determined in the infusions prepared from the individual plants, and from mixtures of these plants in different proportions. The effect was determined using the samples with and without simulated gastroduodenal digestion. All infusions exhibited antioxidant activity achieved by EROs scavenging, reducing capacities, lipoperoxidation inhibition and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibition, before and after the in vitro gastroduodenal digestion. Synergism was observed among the tested mixtures, mainly for the infusions prepared from the three plants in equal proportion (33%:33%:33%) and the infusion obtained with 50% of Lc, 25% of Zp and 25% of Ld. Infusions prepared from the individual plants not showed antimutagenic properties, but when three herbal were mixed showed up to 54% of inhibition of mutagenicity assayed by Ames test against Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strains. The mixture containing 50% of Lc, 25% of Zp and 25% of Ld showed the highest antimutagenic activity. None of samples showed either cytotoxic or mutagenic effects. These beverages could be important sources of antioxidant and antimutagenic compounds for prevention of chronic diseases.