Phytochemical Betanin Modulates the Production of Reactive Oxidative Species (ROS)

By Kyle J. Norton

Reactive oxidative species or ROS are chemically reactive atoms containing oxygen

In other words, ROS includes a number of reactive molecules and free radicals derived from molecular oxygen, including peroxides, superoxide, hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen, and alpha-oxygen.

Free radicals used to interchange with ROS with unstable nature are atoms with an unpaired electron in the outermost ring. Therefore, in order for them to maintain stable, free radicals must intercept or donate an electron to or from the stable atoms respectively, leading a domino's effect that can not be stopped until all outermost ring electrons are paired or inhibited by antioxidants.

Long-term overexpression of free radicals compared to antioxidants can result in oxidative stress, a leading cause of protein, lipid and cellular damage.

Believe it or not, free radical levels in a moderate amount are necessary to enhance the body functioning, including vascular relaxation.

By balancing the ratio of free radicals and antioxidant may be the best way to avoid the development of chronic illness associated with oxidative stress.

However, long-term expression of oxidative stress has been found to induce several chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

Dr. RC Petersen, the lead scientist wrote, "When O2 is absent during periods of irregular hypoxia in mitochondrial energy synthesis, the generation of excess electrons can develop free radicals or excess protons can produce acid. Free radicals formed by limited O2 can damage lipids and proteins and greatly increase molecular sizes in growing vicious cycles to reduce oxygen availability even more for mitochondria during energy synthesis".

And, "Further, at adequate free-radical concentrations a reactive crosslinking unsaturated aldehyde lipid breakdown product can significantly support free-radical polymerization of lipid oils into rubbery gel-like solids and eventually even produce a crystalline lipid peroxidation with the double bond of O2".

The result clearly suggested developing free-radical inhibitor may some days be used for the medical treatments in many pathologies such as cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, infection/inflammation and also aging. 

Betanin is phytochemicals in the class of red and yellow indole-derived pigments of Betacyanins, belonging to the group of Betalains, found abundantly in beets, chard, etc.

With an aim to discover a potential ingredient for the inhibition of the expression of free radicals, researchers examined the effect of betanin, one of the beetroot major components, on ROS production.

In vitro, incubation of neutrophils with betanin in the concentration range 2-500 µM showed a significant reduction of ROS production by 15-46%, depending on the ROS detection assay and increase of antioxidant capacity.

Furthermore, betanin did not affect the activity of caspase-3 activity in programming cell death, in resting neutrophils, but significantly enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activity in stimulated neutrophils.

In other words, betanin inhibited the free radical activity in the initiation of cytotoxicity through its antioxidant activity.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "The results indicate that betanin may be responsible for the effect of beetroot products on neutrophil oxidative metabolism and its consequences".

In organophosphates (OP), a pesticide commonly utilized in agricultural and domestic use, side effects in different body tissues, researchers conducted a joint study led by the Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, to assess whether betanin (a natural pigment) is able to mitigate some OPs-induced hepatotoxicity in primary rat hepatocytes.

According to the outcome, betanin (25μM) significantly increased cell viability, plummeted ROS formation and LPO, restored cellular GSH reservoirs.

Betanin (25μM) not only protects the body tissue against the overexpression of free radicals induced by OP but also prevents the expression of oxidative stress in the liver tissues through stimulating the production of the antioxidant enzyme from the host.

Dr. Ahmadian E, the lead scientist wrote, "the potential protective role of betanin in OPs-induced hepatotoxicity in which the mechanism appears to be inhibition of ROS formation and mitochondrial protection".

Taken altogether, betanin may be considered supplements for the prevention of the overexpression ROS, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of betanin in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) The beetroot component betanin modulates ROS production, DNA damage and apoptosis in human polymorphonuclear neutrophils by Zielińska-Przyjemska M1, Olejnik A, Kostrzewa A, Łuczak M, Jagodziński PP, Baer-Dubowska W. (PubMed)
(2) Betanin reduces organophosphate induced cytotoxicity in primary hepatocyte via an anti-oxidative and mitochondrial dependent pathway by Ahmadian E1, Khosroushahi AY2, Eghbal MA3, Eftekhari A. (PubMed)
(3) Advancements in Free-Radical Pathologies and an Important Treatment Solution with a Free-Radical Inhibitor by RC Petersen,1,* MS Reddy,2 and P-R Liu. (PMC)