Standardization and regulation of the rate of the superoxide-generating adrenaline autoxidation reaction used for evaluation of pro/antioxidant properties of various materials

Abstract

The superoxide-generating reaction of adrenaline autoxidation is widely used for determination of the activity of superoxide dismutase and pro/antioxidant properties of various materials. There are two variants of the spectrophotometric registration of the products of this reaction. The first is based on registration of adrenochrome, as adrenaline autooxidation product at 347 nm; the second employs nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) and registration of diformazan, a product of NBT reduction at 560 nm. In the present work, recommendations for the standardization of the reaction rate in both variants have been proposed. The main approach consists in the use of the pharmaceutical form of 0.1% adrenaline hydrochloride solution. Although each of two adrenaline preparations available in the Russian market has some features in kinetic behavior of its autooxidation; they are applicable in the superoxide generating system based on adrenaline autooxidation. Performing measurements at 560 nm, the reaction rate can be regulated by lowering the concentration of added adrenaline, whereas during spectrophotometric registration at 347 nm, this cannot be done. These features of adrenaline autoxidation may be due to the fact that the intrinsic multistage process of the conversion of adrenaline to adrenochrome, which is recorded at 347 nm, is coupled with the transition of electrons from adrenaline and intermediate products of its oxidation to oxygen, carbon dioxide, and carbonate bicarbonate ions, which is detected in the presence of added NBT.