Barley Phenolamides Effectively Scavenge Harmful Methylglyoxal In Vitro and in Mice
Weixin Wang1, Yingdong Zhu1, Shengmin Sang1
1Laboratory for Functional Foods and Human Health, Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, North Carolina Research Campus, 500 Laureate Way, Kannapolis, NC, 28081, USA.
Scope:
Methylglyoxal (MGO), a harmful reactive dicarbonyl, is involved in the pathogenesis and development of diabetes and diabetic complications. The goal of this study is to determine whether bioactive phenolamides in barley, p-coumaroylagmatine (pCAA) and feruloylagmatine (FAA), which share a similar guanidine group to diabetic drug metformin, have the capacity to detoxify MGO.
Methods And Results:
In this study, the MGO-trapping abilities of these two phenolamides both in vitro and in mice are evaluated. It is found that in vitro anti-MGO capacities of pCAA and FAA are comparable to that of metformin, and both phenolamides could rapidly scavenge MGO via forming mono- and di-MGO adducts validated by in-house synthesized standards and interpretation of respective LC-MSn (n = 2-3) data. Furthermore, mono-MGO conjugates of phenolamides are detected from feces and urine of mice after oral administration of the corresponding phenolamides.
Conclusion:
These findings suggest that barley phenolamides may have the potentials to be developed as alternative therapeutics to prevent the development of MGO-associated diabetes and diabetic complications.


