Assessment of Antioxidant Activity of Giant Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii Hook) Extracts with Their Total Phenol and Flavonoid Contents

Background: The aim of this study was to determine total phenolic and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities of Giant Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii Hook). Objective: Giant Snowdrop, the second most common snowdrop in cultivation, has a long traditional use in folk medicines as it contains some alkaloids and phenolics. Material and Methods: The plant material was grown in Amasya province of Turkey during autumn-winter growing period in 2016-2017. The plant samples were taken from different organs (root, leaf, flower and bulb) at different growing stages (at the beginning of flowering, after flowering and fruit ripening) and the samples were air dried at room temperature. The phenolic contents were determined by reversed phase HPLC and antioxidant properties were evaluated by free radical scavenging activity, reducing power and metal chelating capacity. Result: The HPLC chromatogram showed the presence of gallic acid, caffeic acid, camphorol, quercetin, myricetin and formonenitin. Higher concentrations of phenolic compounds were detected in the leaf samples than the other plant parts, especially after flowering stage. Conclusion: Our results showed that antioxidant activity of snowdrop might be considerably vary based on plant part and growing stage with the leaf showing higher antioxidant activity than the other plant parts.