ascorbic-acid and piperine

Piperine, as the most abundant alkaloid in pepper, gained a lot of attention for possible antioxidant and therapeutic properties. Electrochemical techniques were applied to widely evaluate the redox behavior of piperine by comparison to that of well-known antioxidants: ascorbic acid, protocatechuic acid, syringic acid, tyrosine and capsaicin used as controls. Also, electrochemistry was involved in an innovative way to investigate the potential antioxidant properties of piperine combined with different in vitro peroxidation and reducing assays: (i) 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl free radical (DPPH) scavenging; (ii) 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy (TEMPO) scavenging; (iii) ferric ions (Fe

Topics: Alkaloids; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Benzodioxoles; Biphenyl Compounds; Cyclic N-Oxides; Electrochemical Techniques; Free Radical Scavengers; Free Radicals; Hydrogen Peroxide; Iron; Oxidation-Reduction; Picrates; Piperidines; Polyunsaturated Alkamides

Obesity is one of the major risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. A disproportional accumulation of fat at visceral (VAT) compared to subcutaneous sites (SAT) has been suspected as a key detrimental event. We used non-targeted metabolomics profiling to reveal metabolic pathways associated with higher VAT or SAT amount among subjects free of metabolic diseases to identify possible contributing metabolic pathways. The study population comprised 491 subjects [mean (standard deviation): age 44.6 yrs (13.0), body mass index 25.4 kg/m² (3.6), 60.1% females] without diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, the metabolic syndrome or impaired renal function. We associated MRI-derived fat amounts with mass spectrometry-derived metabolites in plasma and urine using linear regression models adjusting for major confounders. We tested for sex-specific effects using interactions terms and performed sensitivity analyses for the influence of insulin resistance on the results. VAT and SAT were significantly associated with 155 (101 urine) and 49 (29 urine) metabolites, respectively, of which 45 (27 urine) were common to both. Major metabolic pathways were branched-chain amino acid metabolism (partially independent of insulin resistance), surrogate markers of oxidative stress and gut microbial diversity, and cortisol metabolism. We observed a novel positive association between VAT and plasma levels of the potential pharmacological agent piperine. Sex-specific effects were only a few, e.g. the female-specific association between VAT and O-methylascorbate. In brief, higher VAT was associated with an unfavorable metabolite profile in a sample of healthy, mostly non-obese individuals from the general population and only few sex-specific associations became apparent.

Topics: Adipose Tissue; Adult; Alkaloids; Ascorbic Acid; Benzodioxoles; Biomarkers; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Insulin Resistance; Intra-Abdominal Fat; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Metabolome; Middle Aged; Organ Size; Piperidines; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Sex Factors; Subcutaneous Fat

Piperine, the main alkaloid of black pepper, Piper nigrum Linn., is an important Indian spice used in traditional food and medicine in India. In the present study, we investigated the antioxidant activities of piperine against copper-ascorbate induced toxic injury to mitochondria obtained from a goat heart, in vitro. Incubation of isolated cardiac mitochondria with copper-ascorbate resulted in elevated levels of lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation of the mitochondrial membrane, a reduced level of mitochondrial GSH and altered status of antioxidant enzymes as well as decreased activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase and the Kreb's cycle enzymes, altered mitochondrial morphology, mitochondrial swelling, di-tyrosine level and mitochondrial DNA damage. All these changes were found to be ameliorated when the cardiac mitochondria were co-incubated with copper-ascorbate and piperine, in vitro. Piperine, in our in vitro experiments, was found to scavenge hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion free radicals, hydroxyl radicals and DPPH radicals, in a chemically defined system, indicating that this compound may provide protection to cardiac mitochondria against copper-ascorbate induced toxic injury through its antioxidant activities. The results of this study suggest that piperine may be considered as a future therapeutic antioxidant and may be used singly or as a co-therapeutic in the treatment of diseases associated with mitochondrial oxidative stress.

Topics: Alkaloids; Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Benzodioxoles; Copper; Glutathione; Goats; Heart; Heart Injuries; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Lipid Peroxidation; Mitochondria; Myocardium; Oxidative Stress; Piper; Piperidines; Plant Extracts; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Protective Agents; Reactive Oxygen Species

Dietary supplements have been extensively studied for their beneficial effects on cognition and AD neuropathology. The current study examines the effect of a medical food cocktail consisting of the dietary supplements curcumin, piperine, epigallocatechin gallate, α-lipoic acid, N-acetylcysteine, B vitamins, vitamin C, and folate on cognitive functioning and the AD hallmark features and amyloid-beta (Aβ) in the Tg2576 mouse model of the disease.. The study found that administering the medical food cocktail for 6 months improved cortical- and hippocampal- dependent learning in the transgenic mice, rendering their performance indistinguishable from non-transgenic controls. Coinciding with this improvement in learning and memory, we found that treatment resulted in decreased soluble Aβ, including Aβ oligomers, previously found to be linked to cognitive functioning.. In conclusion, the current study demonstrates that combination diet consisting of natural dietary supplements improves cognitive functioning while decreasing AD neuropathology and may thus represent a safe, natural treatment for AD.

Topics: Acetylcysteine; Alkaloids; Alzheimer Disease; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor; Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Benzodioxoles; Brain; Catechin; Cerebral Cortex; Cognition; Curcumin; Dietary Supplements; Folic Acid; Hippocampus; Humans; Immunoblotting; Maze Learning; Memory; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Inbred Strains; Mice, Transgenic; Piperidines; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Thioctic Acid; Vitamin B Complex; Vitamins

Spice components and their active principles are potential antioxidants. In this study we examined the effect of phenolic and non-phenolic active principles of common spices on copper ion-induced lipid peroxidation of human low density lipoprotein (LDL) by measuring the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) and relative electrophoretic mobility (REM) of LDL on agarose gel. Curcumin, capsaicin, quercetin, piperine, eugenol and allyl sulfide inhibited the formation of TBARS effectively through out the incubation period of 12 h and decreased the REM of LDL. Spice phenolic active principles viz. curcumin, quercetin and capsaicin at 10 microM produced 40-85% inhibition of LDL oxidation at different time intervals while non-phenolic antioxidant allyl sulfide was less potent in inhibiting oxidation of LDL. However, allyl sulfide, eugenol and ascorbic acid showed pro-oxidant activity at lower concentrations (10 microM) and antioxidant activity at higher concentrations (50 microM) only. Among the spice principles tested quercetin and curcumin showed the highest inhibitory activity while piperine showed least antioxidant activity at equimolar concentration during initiation phase of oxidation of LDL. The inhibitory effect of curcumin, quercetin and capsaicin was comparable to that of BHA, but relatively more potent than ascorbic acid. Further, the effect of curcumin, quercetin, capsaicin and BHA on initiation and propagation phases of LDL oxidation showed that curcumin significantly inhibited both initiation and propagation phases of LDL oxidation, while quercetin was found to be ineffective at propagation phase. These data suggest that the above spice active principles, which constitute about 1-4% of above spices, are effective antioxidants and offer protection against oxidation of human LDL.

Topics: Alkaloids; Allyl Compounds; Ascorbic Acid; Benzodioxoles; Butylated Hydroxyanisole; Capsaicin; Curcumin; Eugenol; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Lipoproteins, LDL; Oxidation-Reduction; Piperidines; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Quercetin; Spices; Sulfides