Effect of bamboo oil on antioxidative activity and nitrite scavenging activity

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of the bamboo oil on antioxidative activity and nitrite scavenging activity in vitro and in vivo. When the bamboo oil concentration was increased from 10 to 90 μL/mL, the DPPH scavenging rate increased from 15.6 to 98.2%. However, at bamboo oil concentrations above 110 μL/mL, it was not increased. The superoxide anion radical scavenging rate increased from 54.8 to 89.1% when the bamboo oil concentration increased from 110 to 150 μL/mL. When the bamboo oil was incubated for 20 h, the linoleic acid scavenging rate was approximately 91.2%, similar to that of ascorbic acid. The glutathione production using bamboo oil in vivo was 59.0 μM/g of liver, which was about 6.5-fold higher than that of the control. In the case of the activities of glutathione peroxidase and catalase, they were 16.8 U/mg of protein and 295 KU/mg of protein, respectively, approximately 5.6-fold higher and 3.0-fold higher than that of the control. The nitrite scavenging activity was increased from 60.1 to 93.9% at pH of 1.2 when the saturation time was increased from 2 months to 8 months. However, at more than 10 months of saturation, this level was not increased. These results suggest that the bamboo oil of Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis can be used in bioactive and functional materials.