full issue - Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy

Current Trends in Biotechnology and PharmacyVol. 5 (1) 1073-1082 January 2011. ISSN 0973-8916 (Print), 2230-7303 (Online)1074mechanism leads to over production of freeradicals that may exceed system capacity toremove them. This situation ultimately culminatesinto damage of macromolecules such as proteins,lipids and nucleic acids followed by oxidative stress(5).Several compounds such as phenolic,flavonoids etc. obtained from different plants havestrong antioxidant capacity (4). Dietary phenolsare present in plant foods as bioactive moleculesand data supporting the proposal that healthbenefits associated with vegetables and fruits areprobably linked to the phenol antioxidants theycontain. Phenols are present in a variety of plantsutilized as important components of both humanand animal diets (6, 7, 8). A general consensushas been reached during the last few years thatdiet has a major role in the development of chronicdiseases, such as cancer, coronary heart disease,obesity, diabetes type 2, hypertension and cataract(9, 10). This consensus suggests that apredominantly plant-based diet rich in fruits andvegetables, pulses and minimally processedstarchy staple foods reduces the risk fordevelopment of these diseases significantly (11,12).The recommendations are mainly based onepidemiological studies, are thus, that fruits,vegetables and less processed staple foods providethe best protection against the development ofdisease with little or no merit in recommendingvitamin or other micronutrient supplements fordisease prevention. This is a safe principle thatpromises to provide for improved public health.In recent years, search for novel type ofantioxidants from several plant parts has achievedhuge attention. Management of diseases withminimal side effects is still a complicated medicalchallenge. There is an increasing demand to usethe natural products to prevent the free radicalinduced diseases (13, 14). In this regard, weselected L.acutangula to evaluate its antioxidantproperty because it is the popular in Indiantraditional medicine. Luffa acutangula is atropical running vine with rounded leaves andyellow flowers belongs to Cucurbitaceae family.Tea of these leaves is used as a diuretic, seedshave laxative properties and juice of the fruit isused against internal hemorrhage in traditionalmedicine. The results suggest that free radicalsmight play a role in the development of brain injuryfollowing brain hemorrhage (4). The fruit of theLuffa acutangula is rich in phenolic contents.Presently we made a hypothesis that Luffaacutangla may have potential antioxidant activitydue to which it is being used against internalhemorrhage in traditional medicine. None of itstherapeutic potentials are scientifically evaluatedexcept robisome inactivating activity (15).Therefore we set out to determine the effect ofvarious doses of L.acutangula fruit extract onlipid peroxidation, glutathione (GSH) andSuperoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT)activities in erythrocytes in a time and dosedependent manner using Tertiary butylhydroperoxide t-BHP induction. It has beenshown that human RBCs may compose up apotent system that can be used as an in vitroexperimental model to investigate the antioxidantpotential of dietary foods (16). t-BHP) is a wellknown cytotoxin and oxidative stress inducer,induces oxidative damage in different organs likeliver (17) testes (18), etc. mainly by mobilizationof arachidonic acid (AA) from membranephospholipids under cytotoxic conditions.Materials and methodsReagents : The medicinal plant L.acutangulawas purchased from Dr. Madhava Shetty,Department of Botany, Sri VenkateswaraUniversity,Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India.Thiobarbituric acid (TBA), 1,1,3,3,tetraethoxypropane (TEP), t-butylPurushotham Reddy et al.