Can an abts antioxidant test be performed without a spectrophotometer?

ABTS• + (2,2-azinobis- (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)) radical scavenging assay iswidely used to determine the antioxidant activity of natural and synthetic substances. As otherantioxidant activity determination methods, a spectrophotometer device is needed to determinethe numerical value of the color formed in ABTS method. Therefore, the dependence on thedevice is disadvantageous due to especially the high cost and restriction of workspace. Toovercome this disadvantage, a new colorimetric method in the determination of antioxidantactivity for ABTS method was developed with the help of a scanner device and free software(Image J). Mixtures (plant extracts and antioxidant standards) in this new colorimetric methodwere prepared as in the spectrophotometric method and, after the incubation period, each ofthese reagent mixtures was dropped onto the thin layer chromatography (TLC) plate. Then thecolors that appeared on the thin layer chromatography were transferred to the computer withthe help of a scanner and CSC50 values (the color value of the antioxidant concentrationrequired to scavenge 50% of the ABTS radical in the test solution using Image J software)were measured with free software of Image J. The same measurements were performedsimultaneously on the spectrophotometer. The results of both methods were compared. Therewas a strong correlation between the new colorimetric method and the spectrophotometricmethod for ABTS. Thus, the new colorimetric method for the ABTS test has become easilyapplicable since no spectrophotometer device is needed and in all environments.