Assaying the antioxidant and radical scavenging properties of aliphatic mono- and di-N-oxides in superoxide dismutase-deficient yeast and in a chemiluminescence test.

The antioxidative action of amphiphilic mono-(alkanoylamino) ethyldimethylamine-N-oxides (EDA), di-N-oxides 1,1-bis {[2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl]amido}alkane-di-N-oxides (MEDA) and 1,1-bis {[3-(N,N-dimethylamino)propyl]amido}alkane-di-N-oxides (MPDA) with a 12- and 14-membered acyl chain against tert-butylhydroperoxide (TBHP)-produced peroxyl and paraquat (PQ)-generated superoxide radicals was determined in superoxide dismutase-deficient mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and, in parallel, in a chemical assay based on chemiluminescence changes caused in a luminol system by peroxyl radicals generated from the azo-compound 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane dihydrochloride) (AAPH). At 30 micromol/L, the shorter-chain compounds did not affect strain survival while longer-chain ones, in some cases, lowered the survival of sod2 and sod1 sod2 cells. Whether nontoxic or medium-toxic, all N-oxides protected the sod strains against the toxic effect of PQ and TBHP, the protection being stronger with the di-N-oxides. The survival was lowered only by 14-MPDA in the TBHP-exposed sod2 mutant. Membrane lipids isolated from all strains were protected against TBHP-induced peroxidation by both mono- and di-N-oxides, the protection being dependent on the alkyl chain length. Mono-N-oxides were again less active than di-N-oxides with the same alkyl chains, the antiperoxidative activity being also dependent on lipids isolated from the individual mutants. In the chemiluminescence assay, the IC50 value of the N-oxides for scavenging of radicals generated from AAPH generally decreased (i.e. the scavenging efficiency increased) with increasing chain length and was the highest in MEDA.