Citral: A potent inhibitor of advanced glycation end products

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 463; no. Pt 3; p. 141247
• Main Authors: Yang, Xin, Wei, Siyu, Hou, Kangdi, Wei, Yumeng, Lin, Mengyi, Hu, Xiaosong, Chen, Fang, Zhu, Yuchen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 15-01-2025
• Subjects: Advanced glycation end products; Citral; Cytotoxicity; Inhibition mechanism; Cytotoxicity; Advanced glycation end products; Citral; Inhibition mechanism
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141247

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are produced during food processing, pose health risks to humans. This study found that citral (Cit) effectively inhibited the formation of both fluorescent and non-fluorescent AGEs in the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-glucose (Glc) system. Cit achieved an average inhibition rate of over 80 % for fluorescent AGEs and reduced the levels of N-ε-carboxymethyllysine (CML) and N-ε-carboxyethyllysine (CEL) by up to 45.85 % and 59.32 %, respectively. The comprehensive characterizations and high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis demonstrated that the carbonyl group and CC group present on Cit could compete with Glc for the amino groups on BSA, thereby reducing the formation of AGEs. Additionally, the cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the BSA-Cit adducts were non-toxic. This research indicated that Cit was a potent and safe inhibitor of AGEs.
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•Cit effectively inhibited the formation of fluorescent and non-fluorescent AGEs.•Cit competed with Glc for the amino groups on BSA, thereby inhibiting AGEs.•The BSA-Cit adducts were non-toxic.