Abstract

Murtilla (Ugni molinae, Turcz.), also known as “murta”, is a wild shrub that grows in south-central Chile that is commonly used in Chilean folk medicine for the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery and to lessen urinary tract pain. Several studies have been performed to assess the chemical composition of murta leaves. The aim of this study is to compare the radical scavenge ability of 5 different ethanolic leaves extracts (EEs) from different genotypes of murtilla cultivated in the same conditions and selected by the quality of their fruits. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH●) method studies the ability of the EEs to scavenge free radicals, and is based on the decrease of absorbance of the DPPH solution at 517nm when adding an antioxidant [6]. We found that there were no significant differences (p < 0,05) between the antioxidant capacities of the different EEs, except for the EE 19-1 ha, which had the highest concentration needed to reduce 50% of DPPH● (EC50) (12.45 ± 0.5 mg/mL). EE 27-1 had the lowest EC50 (10.13 ± 0.58 mg/mL), thus being the extract with the highest antioxidant capacity. Previous studies have described the presence of phenolic substances, such as quercetin, myricetin, kaempferol epicatechin, and some of their glycosylated derivatives, which are supposed to be responsible for the antioxidant capacity of EEs. The variations between the antioxidant capacities of the EEs can be related to differences on their phenolic composition due to their different genotypes.