ANTIMUTAGENIC ACTIVITY OF POMEGRANATE EXTRACT AND 2 – METHOXY-ESTRADIOL IN COMBINATION ON SWISS ALBINO MOUSE – MUS MUSCULAS

Pomegranate extracts (PGEs) exhibit antioxidative, antiproliferative, and antineoplastic activities. 2-Methoxyestradiol (2-ME), the end metabolite of 17β estradiol (E2), an antiangiogenic agent, inhibits tumor growth. Our earlier investigations demonstrated that aqueous PG extract (PGE) in combination with 2-ME showed antineoplastic effect on Sarcoma-180 tumor cells. The present paper has been oriented to evaluate the antimutagenic or anticlastogenic effect of PGE in combination with 2-ME on normal Swiss albino mice. A comparative evaluation of the antioxidant potential and free radical scavenging activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of PG was evaluated by total phenol, flavonoidand Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP) content as well as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity. Ethanolic extract showed more amounts of phenolic compounds, which is a good sign of high antioxidative potentiality. The aqueous extract has high flavonoid content, which dominates the phenolic activity of the ethanolic extract. The aqueous extract has high Ferric reducing power with more scavenging activity in DPPH assay, which promotes the extract to give a protective property. Present results demonstrated that combination effects of aqueous PGE (400 mg/kg of body weight) and 2-ME (1.5 mg/kg of body weight) significantly protect the mouse from cellular and haematological toxicity. This study introduces a novel combination, where the particular combination of PG and 2-ME (i.e. 400 mg/kg of body weight + 1.5 mg/kg of body weight) not only enhances the survivability of mouse synergistically, but also inhibits the cytological and hematological toxicity antagonistically, as analyzed by Chou Talalay method, which could serve as an antimutagenic potential.