Ferric reducing ability of plasma


Ferric reducing ability of plasma is an antioxidant capacity assay that uses Trolox as a standard. The FRAP assay was first performed by Iris Benzie and J. J. Strain of the Human Nutrition Research Group at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. The method is based on the formation of O-Phenanthroline-Fe complex and its disruption in the presence of
chelating agents. This assay is often used to measure the antioxidant capacity of foods, beverages and nutritional supplements containing polyphenols.

Experimental procedure

A reaction mixture
containing 1 ml of 0.05% O -Phenanthroline in methanol, 2 ml ferric chloride and 2 ml of various
concentrations ranging from 10 to 1000 g
was incubated at room temperature for 10
min and the absorbance of the same was
measured at 510 nm. EDTA was used as a classical metal chelator. The experiment was
performed in triplicates. The ferric reducing activity of date seed extract was estimated
based on the method of Benzie and Strain. The FRAP
reagent was prepared by mixing 50 ml of acetate buffer
at pH 3.6, 5 ml of tripyridyltriazine solution 10 mM
prepared in HCl and 5 ml of ferric chloride solution
. 2 ml of the freshly prepared FRAP reagent
was added to 10 lL of the extract. Then the absorbance was
measured at 593 nm against the blank after 10 min at room
temperature. The standard curve was constructed using Trolox.
The result was expressed as Trolox equivalent in
mg/100 g of dry weight date seed.