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Folium Salviae
tract of S. officinalis leaves exhibited antioxidant effects against lipid peroxidation
in cooked beef homogenate at a concentration of 30 µg/ml (69).
Aqueous and aqueous-ethanol (1:1) extracts of the dried leaves increased
scavenging of diphenylpicrylhydrazyl radical and superoxide anions at a
concentration of 0.025%, as determined by the neotetrazolium method in
vitro (70). Acetone, ethanol-acetic acid, and hexane extracts of the dried
leaves exhibited antioxidant activity at a concentration of 0.01% when tested
on rapeseed and sunflower oils (71). The median effective dose for antioxidant
activity of an aqueous-ethanol extract of the dried leaves and a tannin
fraction isolated from the dried flowering top and leaves were determined
to be 41 mg/ml and 23.1 µg/ml, respectively by a colorimetric assay in vitro
(45). The protective effect of Salvia against enzyme-dependent and enzyme-independent
lipid peroxidation was evaluated. A 50% aqueousmethanol
extract of dried leaves was found to be more effective than the
positive control, alpha-tocopherol acid succinate. A 50% aqueous-ethanol
extract inhibited lipid peroxide formation in brain homogenate in vitro at a
median inhibitory concentration of 2.7 µg/ml in enzyme-dependent and
8.98 µg/ml in enzyme-independent systems of lipid peroxidation (72).
In vitro cultures of hepatocytes isolated from rats drinking a Salvia officinalis
infusion (2 g of dried leaves in 150 ml of water) and challenged with
the oxidant tert-butyl hydroperoxide (0.75 or 1.0 mM), showed a significantly
higher glutathione content and glutathione reductase activity (10%)
after 4 hours of culture when compared with rats drinking water without
the extract, and subjected to the same treatment. The compounds present in
the S. officinalis infusion thus improve the liver antioxidant potential (73).
An aqueous-ethanol (1:1) extract of the leaves at a concentration of 0.5 µg/
ml, expressed cytoprotective activity in a cell culture of mouse fibroblasts
under conditions of active oxygen-induced cell damage (68).
Hepatoprotective action
The protective effects of an aqueous extract of S. officinalis leaves against
the hepatotoxic effects of the anti-metabolite azathioprine, which resulted
in acute oxidative damage to the liver, were tested. Administration of
azathioprine induced oxidative stress through depletion of antioxidants
and elevating the level of malondialdehyde in the liver combined with
escalation of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in
the serum. Pretreatment with the extract produced a protective effect
against azathioprine-induced hepatotoxicity: animals under investigation
failed to show necrosis of the liver after azathioprine administration, and
also most parts of the livers were histologically normal. In addition, the
extract blocked the elevation of the levels of aminotransferase and aspar-
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