Antioxidant, mutagenic, and antimutagenic activities of Tragopogon longirostis var. longirostis, an edible wild plant in Turkey

OBJECTIVES: The ethanolic extract of Tragopogon longirostis var. longirostis, a wild edible plant in Anatolia was isolated, and its antioxidant, mutagenic, and antimutagenic properties were investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antioxidant activity (AA) was determined by the inhibition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, total AA, and phenolic compounds. The mutagenic and antimutagenic activities were investigated by Ames Salmonella/microsome mutagenicity test. RESULTS: The IC(50) value for DPPH radicals was 7.84 ± 0.603 mg/mL. The total AA increased with an increase in the concentration of the extracts (1, 5, 10, 20, and 30 mg/mL), containing linoleic acid emulsion. The total phenolic content was 284.71 ± 5.6 mg gallic acid equivalent/g extract. The results showed that the ethanolic extract can be considered safe, because it does not have any mutagenic effect at the tested concentrations. As a result, the ethanolic extract of the leaves exhibited antimutagenic effects at 2.5, 0.25, and 0.025 mg/plate concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study of the antioxidant, mutagenic, and antimutagenic activities of T. longirostis var. longirostis. These activities are an important topic in the food industry, as well as in the medical field.