Herbosomes enhance the in vivo antioxidant activity and bioavailability of punicalagins from standardized pomegranate extract

• Preparation of herbosomes by a simple reproducible method.
• Increased Cmax, Tmax and elimination half life of punicalagins from herbosomes of SPE as compared with SPE.
• Increased levels of anti-oxidant enzymes when pretreated with herbosomes of SPE as compared with SPE.
• Affirmation of the obtained results with histopathological examination of rat liver.

The purpose of this study was to develop herbosomes, a novel formulation of standardized pomegranate extract (30% [w/w] punicalagins) (SPE) to overcome the limitation of poor bioavailability of punicalagins. The pharmacokinetic parameters of punicalagins from SPE and herbosomes of SPE were compared and their protective effects were studied on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced acute liver damage in rats. Herbosomes of SPE were prepared by a spray drying method. The pharmacokinetic studies demonstrated that the herbosomes (equivalent to 500 mg/kg of SPE) enhanced the serum concentration of punicalagins (Cmax 466.3 ng/ml) approximately 2.5 times higher than the conventional extract (Cmax 192.5 ng/ml). Further, the antioxidant activity of SPE and herbosomes of SPE was evaluated at two doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg by measuring the levels of various liver enzymes under oxidative stress conditions. In comparison with conventional SPE, herbosomes significantly protected the liver by preventing the levels of various enzymes of liver glutathione system, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) from decline and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) to rise with respect to CCl4 treated group. These results were substantiated by histopathological examination of liver. The results clearly elucidated that the developed herbosomes improved the antioxidant property and the hepatoprotective activity of SPE.