Antioxidant Potential of Ergosterol–Phospholipid Liposomes with Thymus serpyllum Extract

The antioxidant activity of ergosterol–phospholipid liposomes with chemically characterized, encapsulated wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) extract was examined. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity and ferric ion-reducing potential of the extract-loaded liposomes with different proportions of ergosterol were investigated. The neutralization of DPPH radicals for the samples with 10 and 20 mol% of ergosterol was 56.3 ± 2.2% and 53.1 ± 3.5%, respectively. The elimination of ABTS radicals was significantly higher and amounted to 95.3 ± 2.6% (10 mol% of ergosterol) and 98.2 ± 1.7% (20 mol% of ergosterol). The Fe3+-reducing potential of the liposomes was 0.14 ± 0.01 and 0.15 ± 0.03 mmol FeSO4/L. Therefore, there was no significant difference between the antioxidant capacity of the liposomes with various amounts of ergosterol. The shown antioxidant potential highlights the employment of prepared liposomes with ergosterol and T. serpyllum extract active compounds in functional foods, pharmaceutics, or cosmetics.