Electrospray tandem mass spectrometric analysis of zeaxanthin and its oxidation products.

Carotenoids have been implicated in protection of the eye from light-mediated photo-toxicity caused by free radicals. Under conditions of normal oxidative stress the carotenoids serve as protective antioxidants; however, when the oxidative stress exceeds the antioxidant capacity, carotenoids can be oxidized into numerous cleavage products. The determination and identification of oxidized carotenoids in biological samples remains a major challenge due to the small sample size and low stability of these compounds. We investigated the reaction of various zeaxanthin cleavage products with O-ethyl hydroxylamine to evaluate their levels in a biological sample. For this, a sensitive and specific electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) was developed, avoiding the classical lower sensitive and specific HPLC-UV and fluorescence absorption methods. Protonated molecules [M + H](+) of carotenoids upon collision-induced dissociation produced a number of structurally characteristic product ions. A series of complicated clusters of product ions differing in 14 (CH(2))and 26 (C(2)H(2))Da was characteristic of the polyene chain of intact carotenoids. All carotenoid ethyl oximes of zeaxanthin cleavage products were characterized by the losses of 60 and 61 Da in their MS/MS spectra. Through the application of the LC/MS/MS method, we identified two oxime derivatives of 3-hydroxy-beta-ionone and 3-hydroxy-14'-apocarotenal with protonated molecules at m/z 252 and m/z 370 respectively, in a human eye sample.

Oxidation of carotenoids by heat and tobacco smoke.

The stability to autoxidation of the polar carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, was compared to that of the less polar carotenoids, beta-carotene and lycopene at physiologically or pathophysiologically relevant concentrations of 2 and 6 microM, after exposure to heat or cigarette smoke. Three methodological approaches were used: 1) Carotenoids dissolved in solvents with different polarities were incubated at 37 and 80 degrees C for different times. 2) Human plasma samples were subjected to the same temperature conditions. 3) Methanolic carotenoid solutions and plasma were also exposed to whole tobacco smoke from 1-5 unfiltered cigarettes. The concentrations of individual carotenoids in different solvents were determined spectrophotometrically. Carotenoids from plasma were extracted and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Carotenoids were generally more stable at 37 than at 80 degrees C. In methanol and dichloromethane the thermal degradation of beta-carotene and lycopene was faster than that of lutein and zeaxanthin. However, in tetrahydrofuran beta-carotene and zeaxanthin degraded faster than lycopene and lutein. Plasma carotenoid levels at 37 degrees C did not change, but decreased at 80 degrees C. The decrease of beta-carotene and lycopene levels was higher than those for lutein and zeaxanthin. Also in the tobacco smoke experiments the highest autoxidation rates were found for beta-carotene and lycopene at 2 microM, but at 6 microM lutein and zeaxanthin depleted to the same extent as beta-carotene. These data support our previous studies suggesting that oxidative stress degrade beta-carotene and lycopene faster than lutein and zeaxanthin. The only exception was the thermal degradation of carotenoids solubilized in tetrahydrofuran, which favors faster breakdown of beta-carotene and zeaxanthin.

Toxicity of oxidized beta-carotene to cultured human cells.

Carotenoids are effective antioxidants in vitro, but they are also susceptible to autoxidation, which generates volatile and biologically active aldehydes and ketones. In a previous study, we showed that autoxidized beta-carotene inhibits Na+-K+-ATPase activity more effectively than aldehydic products derived from lipid peroxidation, such as 4-hydroxynonenal. In this study, we compared mitochondrial dysfunction in cultured human K562 erythroleukaemic and 28 SV4 retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells in response to the degradation products of beta-carotene autoxidation using the MTT assay. We found that oxidized beta-carotene is cytotoxic and that mitochondrial function is decreased in both K562 and RPE cells. In addition, the RPE cells were more resistant to this form of oxidative stress, suggesting that its cytotoxicity may depend on cellular antioxidant capacity.

Bcl-2 overexpression increases survival in human retinal pigment epithelial cells exposed to H(2)O(2).

The integrity of the retinal pigment epithelium, especially that of the macula is essential for the preservation of vision into old age. The chronic exposure to sunlight and peroxidized lipids from phagocytized photoreceptor outer segments imposes a high level of oxidative stress on the retinal tissues, which increases with age as antioxidant protection declines and therefore could accelerate apoptosis. Bcl-2 known to facilitate mitochondrial DNA repair and cellular survival in other tissues was overexpressed in a single clone of human retinal pigment epithelium cells after stable transfection with humanbcl-2 in rhoSFV-neoexpression factor. Near confluent cells (2nd-4th generation permanently bcl-2 transfected) were protected from mitochondrial dysfunction after exposure to H(2)O(2) up to 150 microM. With 200 microM H(2)O(2), function in transfected cells declined by only 25% control activity as determined by MTT reduction assays, compared to wild type and vector only transfected cells expressing normal bcl-2 levels. Similarly the bcl-2 -transfected cells were more resistant to mitochondrial DNA damage after H(2)O(2) treatment than the other groups and suffered 50% less damage after exposure to 200 microM H(2)O(2), as assayed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays. These data suggest that bcl-2 overexpression protects human RPE cells from mitochondrial respiratory dysfuction, mitochondrial DNA damage and promotes cellular survival in response to oxidative stress induced by H(2)O(2).