Flavonoids as reductants of ferryl hemoglobin.

The ferryl derivatives of hemoglobin are products of the reactions of oxy- and methemoglobin with hydrogen peroxide. Ferryl hemoglobins, either with or without a radical site on the protein moiety, are oxidizing species. Plant polyphenols, flavonoids, have been shown to act as antioxidants in vivo and in vitro. Reactions of met- and oxyhemoglobin with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of catechin, quercetin and rutin were studied. These flavonoids accelerated reduction of ferryl hemoglobin to methemoglobin. The rate constants of the reactions of ferryl hemoglobin with catechin, quercetin and rutin were in the order of 10(2) M(-1) s(-1), i.e. similar to the rate constants of ferryl hemoglobin with intracellular reducing compounds like urate or ascorbate. The beneficial effect of flavonoids against oxidative damage of hemoglobin caused by hydroperoxides, reported in the literature, is probably, at least in part, connected with the ability of flavonoids to scavenge ferryl hemoglobin.