6-Gingerol and Semisynthetic 6-Gingerdione Counteract Oxidative Stress Induced by ROS in Zebrafish

6-Gingerol (1) is one of the major components in ginger and developing new synthetic methodologies could bring semisynthetic analogs with improved therapeutic properties. Towards this, multigram scale isolation of 6-gingerol with excellent purity was optimized using a simple and robust extraction, followed by column purification. Synthesis of 6-gingerdione, 7 from 6-gingerol was then achieved through selective -OTBDMS protection, DMP oxidation and deprotection reaction sequence for the first time. Compounds 1, 7 and 8 (dehydrozingerone) exhibited excellent cell-free antioxidant properties in DPPH, ABTS, superoxide radical scavenging assay and H₂ O₂ assay at 10-50 μM concentrations. The hemolytic study suggests that up to 50 μM, all three compounds did not exhibit toxicity to human erythrocytes. When H₂ O₂ treated zebrafish larvae groups (96hpf) were exposed to compounds 1, 7 and 8, it increases the SOD (19, 19.1 and 18.7 U/mg protein), CAT (18.1, 16.5, and 15.8 μmol/mg levels and decreases the lipid peroxidation level (13, 15 and 18 nmol/mg protein), respectively. In vivo ROS levels and degree of cell death were studied using DCFDA and Acridine orange assays. Compounds 1, 7 and 8 decreases the ROS and cell death level significantly. Taken together, compounds 1, 7 and 8 exhibit excellent antioxidant properties, counteract H₂ O₂ induced oxidative stress, reduces cell death in zebrafish larvae.