Antioxidant and free radical scavenging effects of β-amyrin isolated from S. cochinchinensis Moore. leaves

•β-Amyrin was isolated from S. cochinchinensis Moore. leaves.•In vitro and in vivo antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of β-amyrin.•β-Amyrin scavenged the DPPH, hydroxyl, nitric oxide and superoxide radicals.•β-Amyrin restored the levels of antioxidant enzymes in CCl4 treated rats.•β-Amyrin effectively scavenged the free radicals.

β-Amyrin isolated from Symplocos cochinchinensis Moore. leaves was evaluated for the effects on free radicals, antioxidant enzymes and liver protection on CCl4 induced oxidative stress in Wistar rats. β-Amyrin showed very good scavenging effects on 2,2-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (IC50 89.63 ± 1.31 μg/ml, AAI = 1.11), hydroxyl (IC50 76.41 ± 1.65 μg/ml, AAI = 1.30), nitric oxide (IC50 87.03 ± 0.85 μg/ml, AAI = 1.14) and superoxide (IC50 81.28 ± 1.79 μg/ml, AAI = 1.23) radicals as well as high reducing power and strong suppressive effect on lipid peroxidation. In in vivo study, pre-treatment of rats with β-amyrin at 50 mg/kg for 7 days showed significant reduction in the levels of SGOT, SGPT and LDH compared to CCl4 treated rats. SOD, CAT, GSH and GPx levels were increased significantly after treatment with β-amyrin. These results clearly demonstrated that β-amyrin possessed marked antioxidant activity.