Antioxidant Potential of the Polyherbal Formulation “ImmuPlus”: A Nutritional Supplement for Horses

Abstract

In order to counteract harmful effects of oxidative stress due to pathological conditions or physical exercise, horses are often administered dietary supplements having supposed high antioxidant activities. The aim of the present study was to identify the in vitro antioxidant potential of “ImmuPlus”, a polyherbal formulation (Global Herbs LTD, Chichester, West Sussex, Great Britain), containing three medicinal plants (Withania somnifera, Tinospora cordifolia, and Emblica officinalis), known in Ayurveda for their use in human disease treatment. Extracts obtained by different solvents (water, methanol, ethanol, acetone, and hexane) were tested for total antioxidant capacity, total reducing power, scavenging activity against DPPH radical, and total polyphenol and flavonoid contents. Our results showed that, except as regards hexane, all the used solvents are able to extract compounds having high antioxidant activity, even when compared to ascorbic acid. Regression analysis showed significant correlations between antioxidant properties and polyphenol/flavonoid contents, indicating the latter, known for their beneficial effects on health of human and animal beings, as major components responsible for the strong antioxidant capacities. Moreover, obtained results suggest the effective role of the polyherbal mixture as good source of antioxidants in horses.

Polyherbal feed additive for lambs: effects on performance, blood biochemistry and biometry

“…Tinospora cordifolia acts as an immunostimulant and it has been shown that its use decreases the incidence of disease and the use of antibiotics (Mukherjee et al 2010). The tocopherols, ascorbates and polyphenols within ImmuPlus could function as antioxidants and as immunostimulants (Ceccini et al 2014). Polyphenols are secondary plant metabolites and have been shown to exert antioxidative and antiinflammatory effects; this is important in domestic animals because of the oxidative stress conditions promoted by intensive systems; in addition, polyphenols provide protection against bacteria, viruses and fungi (Gessner et al 2017) The quadratic changes in segmented neutrophils could be the response to some polyherbal compounds but these counts are not correlated with the presence of bacterial disease (Honda et al 2016).…”

Antioxidant–Anti-Inflammatory Evaluation of a Polyherbal Formula

“…Natural products with antioxidant activity have been recognized as valuable tools in the management of oxidative/nitrosative stress-induced pathologies [19]. Plants that contain certain amounts of polyphenols and flavonoids are perfect sources of antioxidants [20,21], but some studies infirmed this claim [22]. In other studies, the total phenolic content and flavonoid content did not correlate well with the results from the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test.…”

Comparison of cheeses from goats fed 7 forages based on a new health index

“…The polyphenol content in forage was extracted with water as suggested by Cecchini et al (2014) with slight modifications. Briefly, 5 g of forage sample was extracted by soaking in 50 mL of water at room temperature (20°C) for 48 h under gentle shaking.…”