Phenanthroline-Cu complex-mediated chemiluminescence of DNA and its potential use in antioxidation evaluation

The chemiluminescence (CL) concomitant with phen-Cu2+/ascorbate/H2O2-induced DNA damage has been studied. The emission intensity increases linearly with increasing DNA concentration. The emission spectrum has a maximal wavelength at about 410 nm. The luminescence is inhibited by histone in a histone concentration-dependent manner. The CL is characteristic of guanine. Of all common kinds of bases and nucleotides, only guanine or guanine nucleotides can give rise to luminescence. The possibility of using the luminescence as a means of studying antioxidation related to DNA damage is discussed. Several kinds of well-defined antioxidants have been used as testing reagents and show that this method can not only evaluate the antioxidative effect but also distinguish different types of antioxidants.