EVALUATION OF BIOLOGICAL ACTIVE COMPOUNDS FOUND IN Silybi mariani fructus

Abstract

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum L.) is a herbaceous plant, annual or biennial, cultivated, sometimes as sub-spontaneous plant, which is found from the Mediterranean Region to Central Asia. This plant contains biologically active compounds such as flavonoids (quercetin, taxifoline and dehydrokermepherol), lipids (linoleic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid), sterols and mucilages, sugars (arabinose, rhamnose, xylose, glucose), amines and saponins (cholesterol, campesterol and stigmasterol). This paper describes methods for obtaining extracts, in order to obtain active biological compounds from Silybi mariani fructus, extracts characterised through modern analytical techniques, as well as the evaluation of their antioxidant activity.