One of the mechanisms of antioxidants in preventing DNA damage
is by scavenging the free radicals present in the system. DPPH radical
scavenging activity assay assessed the effects of antioxidants on DPPH
based on the hydrogen donating ability or scavenging ability of free
radicals. DPPH radical is a stable free radical that donates hydrogen
and gets reduced to diphenyl picryl hydrazine when antioxidant
compound reacts with it[21]. Therefore, the scavenging abilities of both
fermented and unfermented rice extracts were taken as parameter to
determine their antioxidant potentials.
The graph showed that both extracts had scavenging properties
but fermented rice extract possessed higher effect of scavenging free
radicals than unfermented rice extract. The result further suggested that
fermented rice extract exhibited better radical scavenging activity and
higher antioxidant properties compared to unfermented rice extract,
which was in line with study carried out by Yen et al.[8], Liang et al.[9]
and Plaitho et al.[14]. Both extracts showed similar trend in which
increasing the concentration of the extract in reaction mixture would
subsequently raise the potency to scavenge free radicals resulting in an
increase in antioxidant properties.