Scientific Research on Maharishi Ayurveda

antioxidant research > antioxidant study 18

Antioxidant Study #18

Title
Oxygen Free Radical (OFR) Scavenging Effects of an Anti-Carcinogenic Natural Product, Maharishi Amrit Kalash

Publication
The Pharmacologist, Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 155, 1990 (Abstract).

Authors
Jeremy Z. Fields, Paresh A. Rawal, John F. Hagen, Todd Ing, R. Keith Wallace, Philip F. Tomlinson, and Robert H. Schneider.

Conducted at
Res. and Med. Svcs., VA Hosp., Hines, IL 60141
Depts. of Pharmacol. and Med., Loyola Univ. Med. Sch., Maywood, IL 60153
Dept. of Physiology, Maharishi Int’l. Univ., Fairfield, IA 52556

Summary
Recently H. Sharma et al (Pharm Bioch Behav, 35:767-773, 1990) showed that MAK, an herbal mixture derived from 15 different plants, prevents and even reverses chemically induced breast tumors in rats. Although the chemical constituents are not yet known, we hypothesized that MAK might contain one or more scavengers of OFR. Aqueous extracts of MAK (5g + 10 ml H20), or superoxide dismutase (SOD), or vehicle were added at various dilutions to suspensions of [1] human neutrophils (PMN; 1 x 106 cells) prior to stimulation (by phorbol myristate acetate) or [2] xanthine/xanthine oxidase. Superoxide (SO) was monitored via reduction of ferricytochrome C followed at 550 nm. Like SOD, MAK was able to completely scavenge SO and MAK did not compromise the viability (trypan blue exclusion) or respiration (O2 utilization) of PMNs. Thus, the anti-oxidant properties of MAK may contribute to its anti-carcinogenic properties.