Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia. Electronic address: gohteikbeng@yahoo.com
  • 2 School of Medicine, International Medical University, No. 126, Jalan Jalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
  • 4 School of Industrial Technology, Food Division, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Malaysia
  • 5 Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
  • 6 Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia. Electronic address: smahsufi@usm.my
Food Chem, 2015 Sep 15;183:208-16.
PMID: 25863630 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.03.044

Abstract

Various 6-methoxytetrahydro-β-carboline derivatives, namely BEN (6-methoxy-1-phenyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole), ANI (6-methoxy-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole), ACE (6-methoxy-1-methyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole) and VAN (2-methoxy-4-(6-methoxy-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indol-1-l)phenol), were prepared via the Maillard reaction using food flavours and 5-methoxytryptamine in aqueous medium and were investigated for their in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties. These derivatives were found to exhibit moderate antioxidant properties, based on a combination of DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays. The results suggested that the Maillard reaction could be used to generate β-carboline antioxidants. It was beneficial that VAN showed the highest antioxidant activity but the least cytotoxic activities on non-tumourous cell lines of NIH/3T3, CCD18-Co and B98-5 using MTT assay. ACE, ANI and BEN showed mild toxicity at effective antioxidative concentrations derived from DPPH and ABTS assays. Furthermore, they are safer compared to 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin and betulinic acid on NIH/3T3, CCD18-Co and B98-5 cells. In conclusion, the antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties of 6-methoxytetrahydro-β-carbolines were demonstrated for the first time.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.