Study on the Antioxidation of Lac Dye

To investigate the in vitro antioxidation and antimicrobial activity of the lac dye, in this study, three free radicals DPPH·, ABTS+ and O2ˉ· are used as the test objects to evaluate the free radial scavenging ability of the lac dye by comparing the absorbance change of free radical solution under specific wavelength. The results showed that, the lac dye has scavenging activity on DPPH· and ABTS+ , but has no scavenging activity on O2ˉ·; when the lac dye reached a certain concentration, its scavenging rate on DPPH· and ABTS+ can be as high as 68% and 87% respectively, with the antioxidant activity respectively 0.20 times and 3.42 times of that of the ascorbic acid, indicating that the lac dye is a kind of natural pigment of a certain scavenging activity on free radicals.