Attività antiossidante dei capsinoidi in diversi modelli sperimentali di stress ossidativo.

The fruits of Capsicum annum (sweet pepper) are a good source of natural antioxidants and one of this compound, capsiate the most important capsinoid, is present in great quantity in the fruits of a nonpungent cultivar called CH-19 Sweet. In this work it has been evaluated the antioxidant activity of vanillyl nonanoate, a synthetic analog of natural capsiate, during linoleic acid and cholesterol oxidation, and the LDL-oxidation in presence of Cu2+. In these experimental systems the ability of the compound to inhibit the lipid peroxidation induced by ROO. radicals and its chelating properties has been underlined. Moreover the phenol showed a protective effect in VERO cells against the tBH-induced reduction of the main membrane lipids. The vanillyl nonanoate exerted in vivo an important protective effect on the plasma and kidney lipid fraction of rats in a model of oxidative stress induced by a sub-lethal dose of ferric nitrilotriacetate (FeNTA), showing a more evident protection in the plasma compared to that observed in the kidney. From the obtained results, vanillyl nonanoate showed an interesting antioxidant activity in vitro and in vivo and taking into account that this phenolic compound exhibits the same biological activities of the natural capsiate, it can be considered an attractive antioxidant candidate for human use.