Citrus fruit extracts represent an important source of antioxidants and reduces advanced glycation end products (AGEs). - GreenMedInfo Summary

Diabetes is a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated pathology, with a worldwide prevalence estimated to double by 2030. A major effort has been launched to find therapeutic means to improve health conditions of diabetic patients. Recent data show that supplemental natural antioxidants represent a potential strategy as adjunct therapy. Despite the major role of adipocytes in the etiology of diabetes, little is known about the effect of natural antioxidants on adipocyte response to oxidative stress. Using a diabetes-like oxidative stress model, the potential protective effect of antioxidative flavedo, albedo, and pulp extracts of (1) tangor Elendale ( Citrus reticulata× Citrus sinensis ) and (2) tangelo Minneola ( C. reticulata × Citrus paradisis ) was investigated on human adipocytes. Besides the retardation of free-radical-induced hemolysis of human erythrocytes, non-cytotoxic concentrations of tangelo and tangor flavedo extracts significantly reduced the levels of protein carbonyls in response to advanced glycation end products (AGEs) generated by albumin glycation in SW872 cells. Flavedo extracts lowered carbonyl accumulation in H(2)O(2)-treated adipocytes, while tangelo and tangor flavedo, albedo, and pulp extracts suppressed ROS production in SW872cells with or without the addition of H(2)O(2). Our results clearly show that Mauritian Citrus fruit extracts represent an important source of antioxidants, with a novel antioxidative role at the adipose tissue level.