Abstract
Since ancient times, fruits and edible plants have played a special role in the human diet for enhancing health and maintaining youthfulness. The aim of our work was to determine the interactions between naringin, a natural ingredient of grapefruits, and DNA using an electrochemical biosensor. Electrochemical methods allow analyzing the damages occurring in the structure of nucleic acids and their interactions with xenobiotics. Our study showed that the changes in the location of electrochemical signals and their intensity resulted from the structural alterations in DNA. The signal of adenine was affected at lower concentrations of naringin, but the signal of guanine was unaffected in the same condition. The dynamics of changes occurring in the peak height and surface of adenine related to naringin concentration was also significantly lower. The complete binding of all adenine bases present in the tested double-stranded DNA solution was observed at naringin concentrations ranging from 8.5 to 10.0 µM. At larger concentrations, this active compound exerted an oxidizing effect on DNA. However, the critical concentrations of naringin were found to be more than twice as high as the dose absorbable in an average human (4 µM). The results of our work might be helpful in the construction of electrochemical sensors for testing the content of polyphenols and would allow determining their genoprotective functionality.
Highlights
The impact of nutrition on human health has been studied since ancient times
The aim of our work was to assess the interactions between naringin and nucleic acid using an electrochemical DNA biosensor
The two-fold increase in naringin concentration resulted in a nearly 200% gain of the first electrochemical signal of the oligonucleotide, the intensity of the latter single-stranded DNA signal increased only by 100% (Figure 2c)
Summary
Herbs and various colorful plants have played an important role in the diet of our ancestors They were considered to have a positive effect on human health and maintain youthfulness [1,2,3]. The food components that are widely studied in this regard are flavonoids These secondary metabolites are responsible, among others, for the flavor, aroma, and color of plants. The in vivo study (supported by an in vitro analysis) confirmed the multidirectional antioxidant activity of naringin, including the suppression of DNA damage, reduction in the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pancreas, and protection of the pancreatic β-cells against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis [6]
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