Study of lipid peroxidation and ascorbic acid protective role in large unilamellar vesicles from a new electrochemical performance.

In this contribution an electrochemical study is described for the first time of lipid peroxidation and the role of antioxidant on lipid protection using large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs). In order to simulate the cell membrane, LUVs composed of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) were used. A vesicle-modified electrode was constructed by immobilizing DOPC LUVs onto carbon paste electrodes (CPEs). Lipid peroxidation was studied electrochemically by incubating the vesicle-modified electrodes with hydroxyl (HO) radicals generated via the Fenton reaction. Oxidative damage induced by HO was verified by using square wave voltammetry (SWV) and was indirectly measured by the increase of electrochemical peak current to [Fe(CN)6]4- which was used as the electrochemical label. Ascorbic acid (AA) was used as the antioxidant model in order to study its efficacy on free radical scavenging. The decrease of the electrochemical signal confirms the protective key role promoted by AA in the prevention of lipid peroxidation in vesicles. Through microscopy, it was possible to observe morphologic modification on vesicle structures after lipid peroxidation in the presence or absence of AA.