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ROS, and release of cytochrome c into the mitochondrial cytosol which further affects

apoptosis (Belyaeva et al., 2008).
3. NARINGENIN, A FLAVONOID

NG belongs to flavanones (a class of flavonoids) and is derived from the hydrolysis of

glycone forms of naringin or narirutin. The flavanones are abundant in citrus fruits such as
grapefruit and oranges. Naringin is the predominant flavanone in juice, rind of the fruit and

flower of grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) constituting about 10% of dry weight and is responsible
for bitterness of juice. NG is also known as 4ʹ,5,7-trihydroxyflavanone (Fig. 1) with

molecular formula C15H12O5. It is soluble in organic solvents such as alcohol and almost

insoluble in water. NG has been reported to exhibit a wide range of pharmacological effects
such as antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiatherogenic and hepatoprotective

with low or no intrinsic toxicity, and investigated for its dietary role in reducing the risk of
chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer (Amaro et al., 2009; Renugadevi

and Prabu, 2010).

Fig. 1. Chemical structure of Naringenin (4ʹ,5,7-trihydroxyflavanone) (Lee et al., 2004).

4. PROPERTIES OF NARINGENIN WITH THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL
4.1. Antioxidant Activity

Several studies have demonstrated the antioxidative activity of NG (Miler et al., 2016;
Jabbari and Jabbari, 2016). For instance, NG has been found to improve the activities of

various enzymatic antioxidants (SOD, CAT and GPx) in high cholesterol diet fed rats (Lee et

al., 2002). NG has been reported to assume the role of α-tocopherol as a chain-breaking
antioxidant in liver microsomal membrane (van Acker et al., 2000). The antioxidative

property of NG is implicated to its ability to prevent lipid peroxidation. Due to its lipophilic
nature, NG adheres itself to lipid bilayer and possibly reduce free radicals formation, thus

protecting the cell membrane against damage (Renugadevi and Prabu, 2009).

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