A novel method using 8-hydroperoxy-2'-deoxyguanosine formation for evaluating antioxidative potency

Degenerative diseases such as cancer are induced by oxidative genetic damage. Antioxidants can scavenge reactive oxygen species, but to prevent disease, they must do so quickly, before the DNA bases are damaged. In the present study, a novel method was established for evaluating the potency of antioxidants employing 2'-deoxyguanosine as a target and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidino-propane) dihydrochloride as a reactive oxygen generator. The reaction formed one product linearly with time. This product was a novel 8-hydroperoxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OOHdG). Using this system, 81 antioxidants occurring in our diet were assayed for activity to suppress the formation of 8-OOHdG by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The system was useful for the evaluation of antioxidative potency, compared to another method utilizing 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Further, it was enabled to examine the synergism of antioxidants. The formation of 8-OOHdG started only after the antioxidants had been consumed. Ascorbic acid, quercetin, and epigallocatechin gallate together delayed the formation by the sum total of the delay times of each factor alone. The proposed method is simple and easy, and can evaluate which dietary antioxidants inhibit reactive oxygen species more quickly than the DNA bases are damaged.