Abstract

Murta leaves have been the focus of recent research that demonstrates that the genotype have an influence in pharmacological activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect that genotype has on peroxy radical scavenger capacity for five murta leaves ethanolic extracts. The murta genotypes (accession numbers: 14-4, 19-1, 19-1ha, 22-1 and 27-1) leaves were ceded by INIA Carillanca and ethanolic extracts (EE) were obtained by successive maceration with solvents of increasing polarity. ORAC assay was used to detect differences in peroxy radical scavenger activity of the EE using fluorescein as fluorescent probe. The 22-1 and 14-4 genotypes shows significantly greater activity than the other genotypes, while 19-1ha showed the lower capacity. Significance (p<0,05) was determined using the One Way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test. We can conclude that antioxidant capacity of murtilla leaves is affected by the genotype when using the ORAC assay, and this could be due to differences in chemical composition (mainly quercetin and miricetin heterosides). The search for an improved and standardized culture with medicinal purpose is an important aspect in natural product research and it should be taken into account for achieve chemical and pharmacological standardization.