Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease responsible for maximum human morbidity in modern life, whereas oxidative stress is the ultimate potential biomarker for determining disease activity in patients with RA.

Objective: The present study scientifically validated the effectiveness of antioxidants commonly present in different food supplements to neutralize the free radicals mediated oxidative stress in isolated peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes (PBML) of patients with RA.

Methods: The study population included patients with Rheumatoid arthritis, RA (n =15), who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria for RA. Peripheral blood was collected, and isolated mononuclear lymphocyte cells (PBML) were pretreated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMS) and furthermore, incubated with different concentrations of Naringenin, β carotene and Nacetyl cysteine (NAC) in an ex vivo condition. The resultant cell lysate was used for further studies for the determination of other oxidative biomarkers. The increase of superoxide and nitric oxide production was observed when PBML was treated PMS.

Results: Importantly, the increased oxidative stress was effectively decreased by the selected plantderived compounds β-carotene and naringenin.

Conclusion: The study scientifically evaluated the efficacy of the molecules validated by one-way ANOVA, followed by Dunnett’s post hoc test of significance. Collectively, our results indicate that both β carotene and naringenin may be a promising non-toxic food supplement in attenuating the oxidative stress associated pathology in RA, meriting further pharmacological studies on other inflammatory cells like neutrophils.

Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, mononuclear lymphocytes, oxidative stress, antioxidants, naringenin, β carotene and Nacetyl cysteine (NAC).

Graphical Abstract