The Health Consequences of Fructose, its Metabolite, Dihydroxyacetone and the Hepatoprotective Effects of Selected Natural Polyphenols in Rat Hhepatocytes

• Main Author: Lip, Ho Yin
• Other Authors: O'Brien, Peter
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Glyoxal; Methylglyoxal; Oxidative stress; Autoxidation; Protein carbonylation; Polyphenols; 0572
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/65571

The introduction of high fructose corn syrup into the diet has been proposed to be the cause of many illnesses related to the metabolic syndrome. Fructose and its metabolites can be metabolized into cytotoxic reactive dicarbonyls that can cause damage to macromolecules leading to deleterious consequences. Dihydroxyacetone, a fructose metabolite, was studied in this thesis. Its ability to autoxidize and cause protein carbonylation under standard (pH 7.4, 37°C) and oxidative stress conditions (Fentons reagent) was investigated. Dihydroxyacetone was able to form significant amounts of dicarbonyls and protein carbonylation. Several selected natural polyphenols were chosen for an in vitro toxicological study involving rat hepatocytes. The chosen dietary polyphenols were rutin, gallic acid, methylgallate, ethylgallate, propylgallate and curcumin. In this thesis, the polyphenols were found to be able to significantly protect against the deleterious effects of glyoxal and methylglyoxal. In summary, these polyphenols could be candidates for future in vivo studies.