Protective effect of methanol extract from citrus press cakes prepared by far-infrared radiation drying on H2O2-mediated oxidative damage in Vero cells

In the present study, a suitable drying method was developed for citrus press cakes (CPCs), which are produced as a by-product in citrus juice plants, and the protective effect of methanol extract of CPCs prepared by far-infrared radiation (FIR) drying against H(2)O(2)-induced DNA damage was evaluated versus that of freeze-dried CPCs. Methanol extract of FIR-dried CPCs exhibited comparatively good ROS scavenging activity versus the freeze-dried CPCs at the concentration of 100 µg/mL. The extract strongly enhanced the cell viability against H(2)O(2)-induced oxidative damage in Vero cells. Lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of the extract from FIR-dried CPCs was comparable to that of the extract from freeze-dried CPCs. This sample also exhibited good protective effects against H(2)O(2)-mediated cell apoptosis as demonstrated by decreased apoptotic body formation in the nuclear staining with Hoechst 33342. In the comet assay, the CPC extracts exhibited strong inhibitory effects against H(2)O(2)-mediated DNA damage in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, this study demonstrated that FIR drying effectively preserves CPC as a functionally important natural antioxidant source and the FIR drying can be adapted for drying CPCs and is more economical for massive production than freeze drying.