The methanolic root extract of
Glycine max (L.) Merr. was chromatographed, which yielded 10flavonoids, including three isoflavones
1-3, five pterocarpans
4-8, one flavonol
9, and oneanthocyanidin
10. All isolated compounds were examined for LDL-antioxidant activities using fourdifferent assay systems on the basis of Cu
2+-mediated oxidation. Among them, seven compoundsshowed potent LDL-antioxidant activities in the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay,the lag time of conjugated diene formation, relative electrophoretic mobility (REM), and fragmentationof apoB-100 on copper-mediated LDL oxidation. Three pterocarpans
4,
6, and
7, never reported asLDL-antioxidant, showed potent activities with IC
50 values of 19.8, 0.9, 45.0
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M, respectively, incomparison with probucol (IC
50 = 5.6
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M) as positive control. Interestingly, coumestrol
6 (IC
50 = 0.9
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M) showed 20 times more activity in the TBARS assay than genistein (IC
50 = 30.1
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M) and daidzein(IC
50 = 21.6
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M), representative antioxidants in soybean. Moreover, coumestrol
6 had an extendedlag time of 190 min at 3.0
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M in measuring conjugated diene formation, while both genistein (120min) and daidzein (93 min) lag times were extended to less than 120 min at the same concentration.Keywords:
Glycine max (L.) Merr. roots; LDL-antioxidation; atherosclerosis; pterocarpan; coumestrol