UV-induced change in quercetin antioxidant activity toward benzophenone initiated lipid peroxidation

Abstract

The aim of this work is to estimate the degradation and change in antioxidant activity of quercetin in the presence of two different mixtures of phospholipids in methanol solution, under continuous UV-irradiation from three different sub-ranges (UV-A, UV-B and UV-C), in the presence and in the absence of selected UV-absorbing photosensitizer, benzophenone. Quercetin is employed to control lipid peroxidation process generated by UV-irradiation, by absorbing part of the UV-incident light, or/and by scavenging the involved, created free radicals. The results show that quercetin undergoes to irreversible destruction, highly dependent on UV-photons energy input, more expressed in the presence than in the absence of benzophenone. In the same time quercetin expresses suppression effect on lipid peroxidation processes in UV-irradiated phospholipid mixtures in both cases - absence or presence of benzophenone (more or less effective, respectively). In UV-C-irradiated mixtures, benzophenone photosensitizing function is significantly reduced due to its strong absorption in the same UV-C spectral range, therefore affecting less antioxidant activity of the remained quercetin.

Keywords

• quercetin
• phospholipids
• benzophenone
• UV-irradiation
• lipid peroxidation