Inhibition/Support of Production of Reactive Oxygen Species
Many natural products with antioxidant capacity also reduce the formation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) by inflammatory cells. However, other products may actually increase the ROS formation, despite antioxidant capacity, and this may indicate simultaneous support of antimicrobial defence mechanisms and antioxidant protection during immune reactions.
NIS Labs performs testing of ROS production, using freshly purified human polymorph nucleated cells (PMN). This cell type constitutes approximately 70% of the white blood cells in humans. PMN produce high amounts of ROS upon certain inflammatory stimuli. Using a reporter dye which becomes fluorescent upon oxidation, combined with flow cytometry, allows analysis of whether a natural product has an effect on ROS formation.