Evidence for the association of peroxidases with the antioxidant effect of p-coumaric acid in endothelial cells exposed to high glucose plus arachidonic acid.

Although many plant-derived phenolic compounds display antioxidant effects in biological systems, their mechanism of action remains controversial. In this study, the mechanism by which p-coumaric acid (p-CA) performs its antioxidant action was investigated in bovine aortic endothelial cells under oxidative stress due to high levels of glucose (HG) and arachidonic acid (AA), a free fatty acid. p-CA prevented lipid peroxidation and cell death due to HG+AA without affecting the production of reactive oxygen species. The antioxidant effect of p-CA was not decreased by buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine, an inhibitor of cellular GSH synthesis. In contrast, pretreatment with p-CA caused the induction of peroxidases that decomposed t-butyl hydroperoxide in a p-CA-dependent manner. Furthermore, the antioxidant effect of p-CA was significantly mitigated by methimazole, which was shown to inhibit the catalytic activity of 'p-CA peroxidases' in vitro. Therefore, it is suggested that the induction of these previously unidentified 'p-CA peroxidases' is responsible for the antioxidant effect of p-CA. [BMB reports 2009; 42(9): 561-567].