antioxidants Flashcards
we eat vitamin C in the form of _______________, which is a ___________, donating both _______s and _______s
ascorbic acid–> reducing agent that donates both e-s and Hs
when ascorbic acid donates an electron, what does it briefly become?
a free radical!
what two steps must occur for ascorbyl radical to be reduced back to ascorbic acid?
must donate another e- to become dehydroascorbic acid and then must be reduced back by glutathione
what does dehydroascorbate reductase need for structural purposes to reduce dehydroascorbic acid back to ascorbic acid?
selenium~
t/f: Vit C recycling is efficient
false! we need to have a constant dietary supply …
what is the deficiency of Vit C + symptoms?
scurvy: bruising, bleeding gums, CT issues, fatigue
what are the top 4 dietary sources of Vit C?
citrus, papaya, bell peps, brussels
what is the RDA for vit C?
m: 90 mg/d
f: 75 mg/d
how is ascorbic acid digested?
trick question! it’s not digested… we eat and absorb straight ascorbic acid
how is ascorbic acid absorbed(2 ways)?
diffusion(small molecule) and transporter
what is the % absorption of Vit C? how is this affected by high ingestion?
75-90%, but this drops with megadoses
how is ascorbic acid transported in the blood? how does it get into cells?
transported freely in the blood(very water soluble/polar)
needs transported to enter cells
t/f: high doses of Vit C are beneficial to increase serum levels in times of illness
false- at about 150 mg/dL, your blood is pretty much saturated and 1K+ mg/d is pretty useless..
at about 100 mg dosage of Vit C, what “storage” cells are saturated with it?
WBC: monocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils
what is the theory of harm of taking Vit C at very high levels? what are 2 side effects of this?
can it act as a PROoxidant??? causing liver damage OR acting as a cancer killer?
____________ and ____________ are enzymes that insert O/O2 to a molecule
mono and dioxygenases
vit C acts as an e- donor to _______________(# and adjective) enzymes. how many mono and deoxygenases are each of those?
8 mammalian: 2 mono, 6 di
what are the 2 main monooxygenase functions of vit c?
- neurotransmitter synthesis: norepinephrine, serotonin
2. peptide hormone post translational modification
what 3 syntheses by deoxygenases does Vit C participate in?
collagen, carnitine, tyrosine(non essential AA)
what is the main function of carnitine in cells?
transports FA across mitochondrial membrane to undergo B oxidation in there
how many steps of collagen synthesis is Vit C a part of?
only 1!
after collagen gene is translated and transcribed what is formed? what must happen after this for collagen to be formed?
pre collagen peptide chain –> must undergo post translational modification
what process in post translation modification of the alpha collagen chain requires the Vit C dependent enzyme? why is Vit C needed, specifically?
hydroxylation–> Vit C needed to add OH to proline on the pre collagen chain and enzyme needs e- to be donated from Vit C to do this
during the post translation modification of the collagen, what happens to the deoxygenase AND Vit C?
both become oxidized… must be reduced back to donate e- and OH again
t/f: collagen synthesis will still occur with a vit C deficiency
true! but not as much…. deoxygenase will use any e- donor but Vit C is most efficient
after hydroxylation and sometimes ________________, the collagen chain is _____________ed extracellularly
glycosylated… moved extracellularly and cross-linked
collagen is extremely important in what 3 body structures?
skin, teeth, bones
t/f: Vit C is necessary for healthy bones and teeth
true!
how are Vit C and Vit E related?
Vit C can regenerate Vit E to cont its antioxidant activity (from a-tocopheral radical by donating an e-)
what are the 2 main forms of Vit E we consume? what “subdivisions” do each of these have?
tocopherols and tocotrienols… both have alpha, beta, gama, and omega forms…
the alpha form of tocopherols or tocotrienols has R groups off its carbon chain that are ________________s
all methyl groups…
what is the structural difference between tocopherols and tocotrienols?
tocotrienols have 3 DB in carbon chain off the two rings…
which form of Vit E has the most potent antioxidant activity?
alpha tocopherol
how many stereoisomers does alpha tocopherol have?
8!
what is the “problem” with synthetic Vit E supplements?
contains all 8 stereoisomers of alpha tocopherol but 4 of them are automatically excreted by humans and have no functional effect…
__________ Vit E supplements contain all 8 stereoisomers of alpha tocopherol, while ________ does not contain the 4 stereoisomers that are not maintained by humans
“all racemic” v. “natural Vitamin E”
out of all 8 stereoisomers, which form has the most potent antioxidant activity of alpha tocopherol?
RRR
what is the RDA for Vit E in both forms?
15 mg alpha tocopherol from food or 30 mg synthetic b/c 4 stereosisomers cannot be converted
what are the best dietary sources of Vit E?
wheat germ, sunflower seeds, oils(sunflower, safflower), almonds
when eating a good source of Vit E, what is the alpha tocopherol usually bound to? what is this compound called in food(1) and synthesized(2)?
fatty acid… called alpha tocopherol ester in food
in supplements: may be alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate
what is the first step of Vit E digestion?
fatty acid must be cleaved by a pancreatic esterase to free A.T. –> incorporated into micelle
in the enterocyte, A.T. can be incorporated into what 2 things for export?
- *chylomicron
2. one of the HDL particles formed in the enterocyte(but not many of these produced here!)
how does Vit E get into tissues?
cleaved off chylomicrons or lipoproteins by LPL
once a chylomicron containing a.t. reaches the liver, what are 2 things that can happen to the a.t.?
- incorporated into lipoprotein and continues into circulation
- excreted in bile
what is the main function of Vit E?
antioxidant–> neutralizes free radicals by donating an e-
once alpha tocopherol donates an e-, it is called __________. from here, what are the 3 potential pathways for the molecule?
- another antioxidant like Vit C reduces back to alpha tocopherol
- pairs with another alpha tocopherol radical to form dimer that is excreted
- donates another e- to another free radical… but cannot be recycled, so also must be excreted
very rarely, a.t. radical is not paired with another e- somehow and it becomes _______________. what is the implication of this situation?
becomes a pro-oxidant… must eat a wide variety of antioxidants so they can neutralize each other
t/f: “natural” Vit E supplements are as potent as food Vit E
false!
what is the understood units of Vitamin E in the RDA?
RRR alpha tocopherol equivalents(TE)
what are the IU–> aTE conversions for synthetic and “natural” supplemented forms?
1 IU synthetic–> 0.45 RRR aTE
1 IU “natural”–> 0.67 RRR aTE
what food source has the highest proportion of Vit E as alpha tocopherol, esp. RRR stereoisomer?
wheat germ(yum!)
out of the most common oils used in the American diet, which has the most alpha tocopherol?
canola oil(over olive oil, soy, corn)
soy and corn oils have mostly ______ tocopherol, which is not as potent
gamma
why is Vit E unique among the micronutrients?
only has 1 function… act as an antioxidant unlike other micronutrients that usually have several f(x)s
when taking natural v. synthetic Vit E supplements, what is the trend over time in the plasma?
with the same dose of each, the natural form will always result in higher plasma levels of circulating alpha tocopherol(remember: all racemic has 1/2 of the stereoisomers simply excreted from the body!)
carotenoids have great __________ capacity
antioxidant