Free radicals Pycnogenol

Packer, L., Rimbach, G., and Virgili, F. Antioxidant activity and biologic properties of a procyanidin-rich extract from pine (Pinus martima) bark, pycnogenol, Free Radic. Biol. Med., 27, 704—724, 1999. 

The most obvious feature of Pycnogenol, owing to the basic chemical structure of its components, is its strong antioxidant activity. Phenolic acids, polyphenols, and in particular flavonoids are composed of one (or more) aromatic rings bearing one or more hydroxyl groups and are therefore potentially able to quench free radicals by forming resonance-stabilized phenoxyl radicals. " The ability to quench the reactivity of... 

As an effective bona fide antioxidant in both plasma and intracellular membrane, Pycnogenol can significantly contribute to the maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis, in particular in the course of events that are likely to overwhelm the capacity to cope with an increased production of RONS, such as in chronic inflammations, thereby reducing Ae possibility of cellular damage at different targets. The ability of Pycnogenol to act as a lipid peroxidation chain breaker is also likely to reduce the toxic consequences of a free-radical-induced cellular stress. 

Virgin, F., Kobuchi, H., and Packer, L., Procyanidins extracted from Pinus maritima (Pycnogenol) scavengers of free radical species and modulators of nitrogen monoxide metabolism in activated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages. Free Radical Biol. Med., 24, 1120-1129,1998. 

Bito, T., Roy, S., Sen, C.K., and Packer, L., Pine bark extract pycnogenol downregulates IFN-gammainduced adhesion of T cells to human keratinocytes by inhibiting inducible ICAM-1 expression. Free Radical Biol. Med., 28, 219-227, 2000. 

Bagchi, D., Oxygen free radical scavenging abilities of vitamins C, E, P-carotene, pycnogenol, grape seed proanthocyanidin extract, astaxanthin and BioAstin in vitro, Final Report to Cyanotech Corporation, Creighton University School of Health Sciences, Omaha, NE, 2001. 

Details about structure, biosynthesis, and classification of phenolics are described in the other chapters in this handbook. Plant phenolics have a distinctive ability to form non-covalent, intermolecular complexes with each other and with both large and small molecules. Recognition of the antioxidant activities of many polyphenols has established correlation with the health benefits by such compounds [34]. This leads to the development of commercial products containing free-radical-scavenging phytochemical mixtures, for example, Pycnogenol (procyanidin extracted from Pinus maritima). Table 82.2 represents a list of polyphenolic compounds used in nutraceuticals and their biologic effects on human health. 

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