Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and whitening activities of Lonicera and other plants as well as the active components. For the anti-oxidative activity, it is evaluated by examining DPPH radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging abilities. For anti-inflammatory activity, U937 cells are first defferentiated into macrophages by PMA and analyzed the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α under LPS-induced inflammation as an indicator of anti-inflammation. In addition, whitening activity is evaluated by inhibition of tyrosinase activity. In the aspect of anti-oxidative activity for Lonicera, the results show that Lonicera confusa has the best DPPH radical scavenging ability with 275.03 ± 55.94 μg/ml of IC50 and Lonicera japonica from China has better hydrogen peroxide scavenging ability with 50.53 ± 10.45% of scavenging rate. In the aspect of anti-inflammatory activity for Lonicera, the results show that Lonicera confusa and Lonicera japonica from China both exhibit better effects on inhibition of TNF-α, which are 46.43 ± 35.37% and 42.66 ± 22.96%, respectively. For the whitening activity, Lonicera confuse also has the best inhibition rate of tyrosinase activity that is up to 90.87 ± 10.13%. Analysis of its relative components indicates that the active components of Lonicera includes Chlorogenic acid, Isochlorogenic acid A, Isochlorogenic acid C and Cynaroside. Further analysis of the relation between components and activities indicates that Chlorogenic acid, Isochlorogenic acid A and Cynaroside have the anti-radical activities. Results also show that Chlorogenic acid has the anti-inflammatory activity, and total chlorogenic acid has the activity of inhibiting tyrosinase. The appendix of the thesis also contains the anti-oxidative activity for the Loranthaceae and Araliaceae.