Protective Effect of Apple Polyphenols on H₂O₂-Induced Oxidative Stress Damage in Human Colon Adenocarcinoma Caco-2 Cells

Abstract

Apple is an important dietary agent for human and apple polyphenols (AP) are the main secondary metabolites of apples. In this study, the protective effects of AP on hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced oxidative stress damage in human colon adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cells were investigated by cell viability, oxidative stress change as well as cell apoptosis. Pre-adding AP could significantly increase the survival rate of H₂O₂-treated Caco-2 cells. Besides, the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and catalase (CAT) were elevated. While the malondialdehyde (MDA) content which is the major oxidant products of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) reduced after AP treatment. In addition, AP also suppressed the emergence of DNA fragment and decreased the expression of apoptosis-related protein Caspase-3. These results demonstrated that AP could ameliorate H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress damage in Caco-2 cells, which could serve as a reference for further studies of apple natural active products and deep study of the anti-oxidative stress mechanism.