Phenolic antioxidant scavenging of myosin radicals generated by hypervalent myoglobin.

The scavenging activity of extracts of green tea (GTE), white grape (WGE), and rosemary (RE), all plant material with high phenolic content, and of the phenolic compounds 4-methylcatechol (4-MC), (+)-catechin, and carnosic acid toward long-lived myosin radicals generated by reaction with H2O2-activated myoglobin at room temperature (pH 7.5, I=1.0) was investigated by freeze-quench ESR spectroscopy. Myosin radicals were generated by incubating 16 μM myosin, 800 μM metmyoglobin, and 800 μM H2O2 for 10 min, and the phenolic extracts were subsequently added (1% (w/w) phenolic compounds relative to myosin). GTE was able to scavenge myosin radicals and reduce the radical intensity by 65%. Furthermore, a low concentration of 4-MC (33 μM) was found to increase the radical concentration when added to the myosin radicals, whereas a higher concentration of 4-MC and catechin (330 μM) was found to scavenge myosin radicals and reduce the overall radical concentration by ∼65%.