Protective Effect Of Coconut Oil Meal Phenolic Antioxidants Against Macromolecular Damage: In Vitro And In Vivo Study

Coconut oil meal, a cheap by-product of coconut oil production, is a rich source of phenolic antioxidants. Many age-related diseases are caused by reactive oxygen species- (ROS-) induced damage to macromolecules such as lipids, proteins, and DNA. In the present study, the protective effect of the phenolic extract of coconut oil meal (CMPE) against macromolecular oxidative damage was evaluated usingin vitroandin vivomodels. Sunflower oil, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and plasmid DNA were used in thein vitrostudy, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), protein carbonyl, and nicked DNA were evaluated as oxidation products. The inhibitory effect of CMPE against H2O2-induced macromolecular damage was evaluated using cultured HEp-2 cells. The results indicate that CMPE inhibits macromolecular damage bothin vitroandin vivo. In addition, CMPE regulates redox status of HEp-2 cells under oxidative stress conditions by maintaining higher reduced glutathione levels. There was no significant difference in the expression of glutathione peroxidase in stressed and unstressed cells suggesting that CMPE regulates the cellular oxidative stress responses without affecting the expression of oxidative stress response genes. Oral feeding of Wistar rats with CMPE improves the serum and plasma antioxidant status without causing any toxic effects.