ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Evaluation of in vitro antioxidant activities of soyasaponins from soy hypocotyls in human HepG2 cell line

Lijie Zhu, Minghan Zhang, Xiuying Liu, He Liu, Yutang He, Bo Wang, and Tao Ma

Food Safety Key Lab of Liaoning Province, College of Food Science and Technology, National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Storage, Processing and Safety Control Technology for Fresh Agricultural and Aquatic Products, Bohai University, Jinzhou, China

E-mail: xiuyingliu727@126.com

Abstract: Soyasaponins were shown to have a wide range of biological activities in previous studies; however, the activities of their monomeric compounds are unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activities of soyasaponins in HepG2 cells. Four soyasaponins were isolated from soy hypocotyls and identified as soyasaponin Aa, Ab, Ba, and Bb. The protective effects of these soyasaponins against production of hydrogen peroxide-induced reactive oxygen species in cells were investigated. The cellular antioxidant activity of soyasaponins was found to be in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations ranging between 25 and 400 μg/mL in 24 h. Finally, based on cell morphology observations, group A soyasaponins showed better cellular antioxidant activity and anti-oxidative enzyme activity than group B ones, with an optimal concentration of 100 μg/mL.

Keywords: Soyasaponin; Cellular antioxidant activity; HepG2 cells; Structure–activity relationship

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-016-0065-8

Chemical Papers 71 (3) 653–660 (2017)