Radical modulation activity of pine cone extracts of Pinus elliottii var. Elliottii

The radical modulation activity of lignins prepared from the cone of Pinus elliottii var. Elliottii was investigated, using ESR spectroscopy. These li gnins produced radical(s) under alkaline conditions, and the radical intens ity was increased with increasing pH. Lower concentrations of lignins sligh tly reduced the radical intensity of sodium ascorbate, whereas higher conce ntrations of lignins enhanced both the radical intensity and cytotoxic acti vity of sodium ascorbate. Lignins effectively scavenged superoxide anion, p roduced by hypoxanthine-xanthine oxidase reaction. Elliottii lignins signif icantly inhibited the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-induced cytopathic effect, in similar fashions to other natural, commercial and synthetic lig nins. Pretreatment of mice with lignins significantly protected them from t he lethal infection with E. coli. Crude alkaline extracts of Elliottii pine cone displayed similar magnitude of activity with lignins. These data furt her supports the medicinal efficacy of plant extracts.