process was able to increase TEAC when rough
rice was used as a raw material. This may partially
due to changes of other antioxidants in rice grains
during germination. Regular brown rice is normally
contains beneficial compounds which also act as
antioxidants such as γ- oryzanol and tocopherol.
The increased amount of tocopherol in germinated
rice was reported by Jiamyangyuen and Ooraikul
(2009). Tocopherol is more abundant in seeds than
in any other plant tissues (Mansfield and Braiarty,
1992) It is a lipophillic antioxidant synthesized by
all plants and plays an important role in limiting
non-enzymatic lipid oxidation during seed storage,
germination, and early seedling development
(Sattler et al., 2004). During germination, various
reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated as byproducts
of metabolism. This group of ROS includes
superoxide radicals (O2
-), hydrogen peroxide radicals
(H2O2.-), and hydroxyl radicals (OH.-). The formation
of these oxygen radicals results in the accumulation
of lipid hydroperoxides by radical chain oxidation
via phospholipids peroxy radicals within membranes.
Therefore, it was hypothesized that this could be
related to the increase of antioxidant activity in large
unilamellar vesicles observed in germinated seeds
(Frias et al., 2004).