Compared Chemical Activity and Effects on Cell Viability of Various Antioxidant Compounds

Background: Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of several diseases. A healthy food diet, supplying the organism with antioxidants, is generally believed to help prevent this stress. Methods: With the aim of screening several antioxidants commonly found in food, a method using β pancreatic cells and based on the reduction of a tetrazolium sodium salt into colored formazan in the presence of antioxidant compounds was used. In parallel, the same compounds were investigated using a chromatographic online antioxidant detection system (Coads) based on the detection of the reduced form of the radical cation 2,2-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS^•+) which is first allowed to react online with the eluting compounds. Results: The obtained data suggested that most phenolic compounds possessed both antioxidant and prooxidant properties. Gallic acid, in particular, showed among the highest antioxidant activities with the Coads method (322±46 μM Trolox equivalent), but caused a decrease in cell viability (-25%). Conclusion: Moreover, when screening natural compounds for their antioxidant activity, combining both chemical and biological methods is a more targeted approach compared with the single use of either method.