Authors: Mohammad Reza LornejadSchäfer Christine Lambert Dietmar E Breithaupt Hans K Biesalski Juergen Frank
Publish Date: 2007/01/16
Volume: 46, Issue: 2, Pages: 79-86
Abstract
Carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin are proposed to protect ocular tissues from freeradical damage that can cause cataract and agerelated macular degeneration AMD They accumulate selectively in the lens and macular region of the retina Changes in the retinal pigment epithelium are characteristic in AMD Efficient uptake is essential to study the intracellular effects of carotenoids in cell cultures For in vitro experiments carotenoids are often dissolved in organic solvents like tetrahydrofuran THF dimethylsulfoxide DMSO and nhexane but difficulties have been associated with these application methods Recently O’Sullivan et al SM O’Sullivan et al Br J Nutr 91 2004 757 developed a method whereby carotenoids could be delivered to cultured cells without the cytotoxic side effects often observed when organic solvents are used We modified this method and investigated the effects of different carotenoidformulations ethanol/Tween40 methanol/tween40 and acetone/Tween40 on the uptake of lutein and zeaxanthin by differentiated ARPE19 cells cell viability and the expression of the “stress” gene HO1 which is easily induced by a range of stimuli including chemical and physical agents Micelle formulations prepared with ethanol/Tween40 resulted in the lowest LDH release the highest carotenoid uptake and the lowest stress response changes in HO1 mRNA expressionThis work was supported by the Ministry of Science Research and the Arts BadenWürttemberg and ProRetina eV The authors greatly acknowledge the expert technical assistance of Andrea Flaccus and Christiane Hallwachs The authors thank Dr Gurunadh Reddy Chichili Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Oklahoma USA for critical reading of the manuscript
Keywords: