Scavenging Effects of Plant Antioxidants on Gas-Phase Free Radicals in Mainstream Cigarette Smoke

Abstract

Cigarette smoke contains free radicals that are considered to be a major group of carcinogens. In the present study, we used plant antioxidants to treat cigarette filters for scavenging gas phase free radicals in cigarette smoke. The scavenging activities of four antioxidants against gas phase free radicals were analyzed using an improved spin trap protocol. The scavenging rates ranked as lycopene > grape seed extract > pycnogenol > tomato powder. A scavenging rate of 62% (p < 0.001) was obtained from the lycopene treatment. The use of plant antioxidants as potential scavengers for reducing free-radicals in cigarette smoke is discussed.

Keywords:

• Antioxidants
• Cigarette smoke
• ESR
• Free radical
• Spin trap

Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Boris G. Dzikovski and Jack H. Freed in The National Biomedical Research Center for Advanced ESR Technology, Cornell University for ERS measurement and technical discussion. This work was supported by The Technical Center of China Tobacco Hunan Industrial Corp. Ltd., Hunan, China.