Plants from reunion island: evaluation of their free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities.

A total of 274 crude methanolic and dichloromethane extracts of endemic or indigenous plants from Reunion Island (75 species belonging to 35 families, 43 among them being used in the local traditional pharmacopoeia) have been qualitatively screened for their free radical scavenging (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical) and antioxidant (beta-carotene) activities. In this study, various species with appreciable activity were identified as potentially novel sources of free radical scavenging and antioxidant compounds.