Proanthocyanidins in Periodontics

Abstract

Considerable research on oligomeric compounds proanthocyanidins in particular had been explored as these are naturally occurring plant metabolites present in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, flowers and bark. Proanthocyanidins are first and foremost known for their antioxidant capacity. These have anti-inflammatory activity, anti-philogistic activity, analgesic activity, antiviral activity

Proanthocyanidins, also known as condensed tannins, are flavonoid polymers that have a long history of use as tanning agents for animal skins, and are determinants of flavor and astringency in teas, wines and fruit juices. The chemistry of proanthocyanidins has been studied for many decades. Proanthocyanidins are oligomeric and polymeric end products of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. They are present in the fruits, bark, leaves and seeds of many plants, where they provide protection against predation. At the same time they give flavor and astringency to beverages such as wine, fruit juices and teas, and are increasingly recognized as having beneficial effects on human health. These are bioflavanols a group of antioxidants belonging to the bioflavanoid family known as "Vitamin P” and also known as OPC, proanthocyanidins, procyanidins, leucocyanidins, leukocyanidol and pycnogenols.  Professor Jacques Masquelier the father of OPC: discovered OK, isolated OPC, named OPC, characterized OPC and invented the extraction techniques. He conducted and oversaw numerous clinical trials, tests and studies establishing the safety and efficacy of OPC. These are the most powerful free radical scavengers and vitamin C enhancers known. In France where research first began, OPC was the abbreviated name for "oligomeres procyanidoliques”¹. Several excellent reviews on the subject of proanthocyanidins have appeared over the past 25 yr (Haslam, 1977; Foo & Porter, 1980; Stafford, 1988; Porter, 1989; Stafford, 1990; Scalbert, 1991; Schofield et al., 2001). The older reviews should not be passed over, as they document critical and original thinking on a difficult biosynthetic problem before the application of modern molecular tools (Haslam, 1977), and introduce concepts such as metabolic channeling (Stafford, 1983) that were several years ahead of their time. More recent reviews provide excellent summaries of the agricultural benefits (Aerts et al., 1999), chemistry (Ferreira & Slade, 2002; Ferreira et al., 2003), and biochemistry (Marles et al., 2003) of proanthocyanidins. Proanthocyanidins are commercially available as pycnogenol^®