Cardiac
diseases are considered the second most prevalent cause of death in dogs. Oxidative
stress has been shown to induce damage in a variety of canine cardiovascular
cell types and is implicated in the initiation and progression of various
cardiac diseases.
Various
antioxidant agents used in managing heart failure appear to confer
cardio-protective benefits, but with growing evidence of the inadequacy of a
monodimensional antioxidant strategy, there is a demand for an integrated
approach using a combination of antioxidant compounds with complementary or
interdependent effects. Specific data on the effects of natural antioxidant
substances in canine endothelial cells are also lacking.
We
developed a new canine aortic endothelial cell-based H202
oxidative stress assay. The antioxidant effects of four substances—L-carnitine,
taurine, pomegranate extract and soy isoflavone extract, alone or in
combination—were investigated with this new assay and two free radical
scavenging assays.
Pomegranate
extract, alone and in combination with the other substances, possesses
significant strong antioxidant and cytoprotective activities in canine
endothelial cells. Data from this and other published studies suggest that
these natural substances could be of interest when developing a multidimensional
dietary strategy to reduce the onset and progression of oxidative stress-induced
canine disease and perhaps more specifically the endothelial degeneration
involved in progressive valvular insufficiencies.
Source: C. Ripoll et al., 2012. Evaluation of natural
substances’ protective effects against oxidative stress in a newly developed
canine endothelial cell-based assay and in cell-free radical scavenging assays.
Intern J Appl Res Vet Med 10:
113-124.