Oxygen radical absorbance capacity of phycocyanin and phycocyanobilin from the food supplement Aphanizomenon flos-aquae

J Med Food. 2010 Feb;13(1):223-7. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2008.0257.

Abstract

The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay has been widely used to quantify peroxyl radical scavenging capacity of pure antioxidant compounds and antioxidant plant/food extracts. However, it has never been applied to natural compounds derived from microalgae-based dietary supplements, namely, phycocyanin (PC) and phycocyanobilin (PCB), for which a strong radical scavenger activity has been documented. In this article, we applied the ORAC method to investigate the capacity of PC and PCB purified from the edible microalga Aphanizomenon flos-aquae to directly quench peroxyl radicals in comparison to well-known antioxidants molecules such as Trolox, ascorbic acid, and reduced glutathione. As a result, PCB was found to have the highest ORAC value (22.18 micromol of Trolox/micromol of compound), comparable to that of PC (20.33 micromol of Trolox/micromol of compound), hence confirming that PCB is mostly responsible for the scavenger activity of PC and making the protein a possible source of the antioxidant in vivo. Our data further corroborate the use of these natural compounds from A. flos-aquae as dietary antioxidant supplements in the treatment of clinical conditions related to oxidative stress.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Antioxidants / pharmacology*
  • Aphanizomenon / chemistry*
  • Ascorbic Acid / pharmacology
  • Chromans / pharmacology
  • Dietary Supplements*
  • Glutathione / pharmacology
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Peroxides / metabolism*
  • Phycobilins / pharmacology*
  • Phycocyanin / pharmacology*
  • Plant Preparations / pharmacology*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Chromans
  • Peroxides
  • Phycobilins
  • Plant Preparations
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Phycocyanin
  • phycocyanobilin
  • Glutathione
  • Ascorbic Acid
  • 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid