ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF PUNICALAGIN IN AN IN-VITRO SYSTEM OF PRECISION CUT GOAT LIVER SLICES SUBJECTED TO OXIDATIVE STRESS

Oxidative stress has been implicated in various pathological diseases like neurodegenerative disorders, stroke, cancer, inflammation, atherosclerosis, etc., which upshots when the production of reactive oxygen species overwhelms the antioxidant defense mechanism. Nowadays, development of drugs with antioxidant potential gained utmost importance therapeutically to treat many pathological diseases. Plant-derived anti-oxidants were proven to be more effective than synthetic antioxidants. With this as focus, the present study investigated the antioxidant potential of punicalagin (PG) in an in-vitro system of goat liver slices imperiled to oxidative stress. Precision cut goat liver slices are used as an in-vitro model for the evaluation of anti-oxidant activity because it crafts in-vivo tissue environment and helps in curtailing the use of intact animals. In our study, hydrogen peroxide is used as an oxidant to create oxidative stress to the liver slices. Hydrogen peroxide treated liver slices showed a significant decrease in both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant levels as compared with normal liver slices. PG treated liver slices showed significant improvement in both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant levels as compared with untreated control group. From our results, it was observed that PG showed significant anti-oxidant activity in an in-vitro system of goat liver slices subjected to oxidative stress which confirms the antioxidant potential of punicalagin.