Punica granatum L. has a long standing culinary and medicinal traditional use in Mauritius.
This prompted a comparative study to determine the bioefficacy of the flower, peel, leaf, stem, and seed extracts of the Mauritian P. granatum.
The flower and peel extracts resulting from organic solvent extraction exhibited strong antioxidant activities which correlated with the high levels of total phenolics, flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins. The peel extract had the most potent scavenging capacity reflected by high Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity value (5206.01 ± 578.48 μmol/g air dry weight), very low IC50 values for hypochlorous acid (0.004 ± 0.001 mg air dry weight/mL), and hydroxyl radicals scavenging (0.111 ± 0.001 mg air dry weight/mL). Peel extracts also significantly inhibited S. mutans (P < 0.001), S. mitis (P < 0.001), and L. acidophilus (P < 0.05) growth compared to ciprofloxacin. The flower extract exhibited high ferric reducing, nitric oxide scavenging, and iron (II) ions chelation and significantly inhibited microsomal lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, it showed a dose-dependent inhibition of xanthine oxidase with an IC50 value of 0.058 ± 0.011 mg air dry weight/mL. This study showed that nonedible parts of cultivated pomegranates, that are generally discarded, are bioactive in multiassay systems thereby suggesting their potential use as natural prophylactics and in food applications.
In line with literature documenting the pluripotent activities of tropical fruits, this study evaluated the antioxidant effects of Carica papaya fruit extracts at cellular level. Investigations using cellular models of oxidative stress provided complementary evidence of the antioxidant activities of papaya fruit. At 2 mg dry weight ml, extracts of seed from ripe and unripe fruit significantly reduced oxidative stress levels within human pre-adipocytes (SW872) and hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) exposed to hydrogen peroxide (HO). Maintenance of mitochondrial viability, reduction of intracellular reactive oxygen species levels and mediation of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretory levels (tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) were all indicative of its cytoprotective effects against oxidative-inflammation. This work demonstrates that the Mauritian Solo papaya is an important source of natural antioxidants that could be used for the dietary modulation of oxidative stress and inflammation.
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