Comparison of anti-oxidative activities of gamma-irradiated Aralia continentalis extracts for long-term storage of oriental medicine

In this study, extracts of gamma-irradiated Aralia continentalis for health and beauty food resources were examined on antioxidant activities and increasing extraction yield. In photostimulated luminescence analysis, non-irradiated (0 kGy) sample showed an intermediate result of 891.00 photon counts (PCs), whereas irradiated (5 and 10 kGy) samples showed positive results of 79,956.67 and 282,498.67 PCs, respectively. The thermoluminescence ratio of non-irradiated samples was 0.018, whereas the values of irradiated samples (5 and 10 kGy) were 0.395 and 0.464, respectively. Electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis as a physical technique for irradiation identification of Aralia continentalis showed a pair of peaks on a space of 6.0 mT in the symmetric ESR spectrums. For phenolics of gamma-irradiated Aralia continentalis, water extracts had the highest amounts of 7.61 mg/g at non-irradiated condition (0 kGy) while 50% ethanol extracts had the highest amounts of 6.86 mg/g at 10 kGy irradiation. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity of water and 50% ethanol extracts from non-irradiated and irradiated Aralia continentalis were very high (94.99~100.00%). 2,2’-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation inhibitory activity was over 95.00% at 200 µg/mL phenolics. Antioxidant protection factor (PF) showed a very high level of activity (1.38~2.51 PF). Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance inhibitory activity was high (70% and 95%, respectively). Thus, treatment of gamma irradiation can be used as a method of storage for long-term preservation of Oriental medicine.