BACKGROUND The molecular basis of interaction of selected carotenoids and xanthophylls with ascorbic acid on cancer cells was studied to determine their anticancer effects. MATERIALS AND METHODS Drug accumulation was measured in a human ABCB1 gene-transfected mouse lymphoma cell line and in a human lung cancer cell line by flow cytometry; furthermore, their anticancer effects were determined ...

Many studies have demonstrated that xanthophylls, such as astaxanthin, have beneficial effects in human health, and their use in food supplements is thus encouraged. Moreover, such nutrients are frequently used in aquaculture to meet consumer demand for salmonoid flesh pigmentation. In this study different xanthophyll administration protocols were tested to verify pigmentation properties and sa...

A first-order kinetic mechanism was appropriate for describing the thermal degradation of epoxy xanthophylls in virgin olive oil (VOO). Consecutive reactions that involve reorganization of 5,6-epoxide groups to 5,8-furanoxide groups and subsequent rupture of the polyene chain occurred in the degradation pathways. Thermal stability was significantly affected by changes in the chemical structure ...

The involvement of excited and highly reactive intermediates in oxygenic photosynthesis inevitably results in the generation of reactive oxygen species. To protect the photosynthetic apparatus from oxidative damage, xanthophyll pigments are involved in the quenching of excited chlorophyll and reactive oxygen species, namely 1Chl*, 3Chl*, and 1O2*. Quenching of 1Chl* results in harmless dissipat...

Vaucheriaxanthin is 19'-OH and not 19-OH neoxanthin. This structural conclusion was borne out by mass, PMR and infrared (IR) spectra from the free pigment and its derivatives (vaucheriaxanthal, vaucheriaxanthal-diacetate, vaucheriaxanthal-diacetate-mono (trimethylsilyl) -ether, vaucheriaxanthintriacetateand triacetate-monosilanate, vaucheriaxanthin-dimethylether) and by comparison of the charac...

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the third most widely consumed plant food by humans. Its tubers are rich in starch and vitamin C, but have low or null levels of essential nutrients such as provitamin A and vitamin E. Transformation of potato with a bacterial mini-pathway for β-carotene in a tuber-specific manner results in a "golden" potato (GP) tuber phenotype resulting from accumulation of p...