Stimulatory effect of components of rose flowers on catalytic activity and mRNA expression of superoxide dismutase and catalase in erythrocytes

In the present study, two antioxidant components (polysaccharopeptide complex P1−a and condensed tannin P1−b) from rose (Rosa rugosa) flowers were each incubated with mouse erythrocytes to investigate their effect on erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities. It was found that the activities of Cu, Zn-SOD and CAT were markedly increased after incubation for 3 h with rose flower fractions at the concentration of 500 μg/ml. Similar changes were also observed in the erythrocyte gene expression of SOD and CAT. These results show that P1−a and P1−b are effective antioxidants that increase the activity and the gene expression of SOD and CAT in mouse erythrocytes.