Highly oligomeric procyanidins from areca nut induce lymphocyte apoptosis via the depletion of intracellular thiols.

Procyanidins are plant-derived polyphenolic compounds possessing a variety of biological activities, such as immunomodulation, and induction of tumor cell apoptosis. We previously reported that total extract of areca nut exhibited a suppressive effect on the metabolic activity and cytokine expression in normal splenic lymphocytes. As areca nut contains a rich amount of polyphenols, the objective of the present study was to investigate the pro-apoptotic effect of polyphenol-enriched areca nut extract (PANE) and its fractionated oligomeric procyanidins in splenic lymphocytes. Our data showed that PANE markedly induced lymphocyte apoptosis in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Notably, the fractionated oligomeric procyanidins from pentamers to decamers were active in inducing the apoptosis, whereas monomers to tetramers were inactive. In addition, a marked diminishment in the level of intracellular thiols was revealed in lymphocytes treated with pentamers to decamers. Pretreatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a precursor of glutathione, resulted in significant attenuation of both apoptosis and thiol diminishment induced by areca procyanidins. Taken together, our results indicated that highly oligomeric procyanidins derived from areca nut exhibited a chain length-dependent pro-apoptotic effect in primary lymphocytes, which is mediated, at least in part, by the diminishment of intracellular thiols.