Table 7.

Therapeutic potential of Punica granatum on eyes, ears, and nose

Model	Activity	Plant part/compd.	Study design	Mechanism	Ref.
Cellular	Protecting human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells from photo-oxidative stress	Punicalagin	Human RPE cell line (ARPE-19); Exposed to UV-A radiation for 1, 3, and 5 hr; ARPE-19 cells were pre-treated with punicalagin (24 h); ROS, BAX, and BCL-2 detection	Activating Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway; ↓Apoptosis and BAX/BCL-2 ratio; Antagonizing the decrease in cell viability and reduced high levels of ROS	(165)
Cellular	Anti-cataract activity	Leaves (methanol extract)	Glucose-induced cataract model in goat lenses; Positive control=quercetin (500 μg/ml); Leaves extract concentrations: 250, 500, 1000 μg/ml); 72 hr	Aldose reductase inhibition; ↓Oxidative stress; ↑Antioxidant defense system; IC50= 83.55 ± 3.92 μg/ml	(166)
Animal	Protection on experimental ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) retinal injury	Pomegranate extract	Male albino rats; Groups I and II (sham-operated and received saline or extract, respectively), groups III and IV (I/R) rat models with prior administration of saline or 250 mg/kg/day extract, respectively	PMG prevented I/R-induced retinal damage; ↑Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) immunoreactivity; ↓NO	(167)
Animal	Protection against amikacin-induced ototoxicity	PPE (≥98% ellagic acid)	BALB/c mice; Control group: physiological saline (100 μl/day) via gavage; Amikacin (AMK) group: intraperitoneally received AMK intramuscular injection at 500 mg/kg/day for 15 consecutive days; PPE plus AMK group: hypodermic injection for AMK at 500 mg/kg/day for 15 consecutive days and PPE (34 mg/kg, 100 μl/day) via gavage for 5 days prior to AMK injection and for 15 days concomitantly with AMK injections; PPE group: PPE via gavage for 20 days; auditory brainstem response (ABR) was recorded 1 day before and 15 days after AMK treatment	Regulating the MAPK/FoxO3a signaling pathway in the cochlea; IC50= 45 μg/ml	(168)