Antioxidant and free radical scavenging effects of the tannins of Terminalia catappa L

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) react with biological molecules and destroy t he structure of cells and eventually cause free radical-induced disease suc h as inflammation and cancer: Previous studies showed that an aqueus extrac t of Terminalia catappa L. exhibited superoxide radical scavenger activity and modification of mitomycin C- induced clasto-genicity. In order to inves tigate the multiple antioxidant effect of the tannin components of T. catap pa L., their. ability to prevent lipid peroxidation, superoxide formation a nd their free radical scavenging activity were evaluated. The results indic ated that all of these components showed potent antioxidant activity. Punic alagin and punicalin were the most abundant components and had the stronges t anti-oxidative effects of this group of tannins.