Hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been shown to be formed during inflammatory processes and is implicated in its pathophysiology. Thus, a putative scavenging activity against this reactive oxygen specie (ROS) by anti-inflammatory drugs may be of great therapeutical value. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the scavenging activity for H2O2 by several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), namely indomethacin, acemetacin, etodolac, tolmetin, ketorolac, oxaprozin, sulindac and its metabolites sulindac sulfide and sulindac sulfone. The H2O2 scavenging assay was performed by measuring H2O2-elicited lucigenin chemiluminescence using a microplate reader. The specificity of the method was confirmed by the use of catalase, which completely prevented the H2O2-induced lucigenin chemiluminescence. The endogenous antioxidants melatonin and reduced glutathione (GSH) were used as positive controls. The obtained results demonstrated that all the studied NSAIDs display H2O2 scavenging activity, although in different extents. The ranking order of potency found was sulindac sulfone > sulindac sulfide > GSH > sulindac > indomethacin > acemetacin > etodolac > oxaprozin > ketorolac ≈ melatonin > tolmetin.