Antioxidative Activity of the Extracts of Japanese Apricot (Prunus mume Siebe. et Zucc.)

In order to discern the possibility of functional food product or ingredient of a new medicine, the leaf parts and fruit parts of Prunus mume was partitioned with various solvents and their antioxidative activity was measured. When the antioxidative activity of MeOH extracts of leaf parts and fruit parts of Korea and China was compared, all of them showed the highest antioxidative activity in EtOAc fraction. In case of Korean Prunus mume leaf parts showed that quantity required for RC50 to be $27.04㎍ in EtOAc fraction and in case of China Prunus mume leaf parts, it was $23.31㎍ which is similar to that of α-tocopherol ($22.14㎍) and showed the highest activation. In case of Prunus mume fruit parts MeOH extract, Korean fruit showed $29.16㎍, and Chinese fruit showed $31.21㎍ in EtOAc fraction and thus Korean fruit extract showed a higher activity of antioxidant than the Chines fruit extract. When the antioxidative activity between the fruit parts and leaf parts of Prunus mume was compared, the leaf parts showed a higher antioxidative activity.