High-throughput evaluation of antioxidant and pro-oxidant activities of polyphenols with thymidine protection assays

A recently reported high-throughput screening strategy has been applied to the rapid selection of new water-soluble antioxidants that display strong protective activities. Based on a competitive immunoassoy, a triple-screening procedure was used to evaluate the ability of different compounds to protect thymidine under different oxidative stresses. The pro-oxidant effect of norbadione A in the presence of iron was observed, while some pulvinic acid derivatives proved strongly protective during gamma radiolysis, UV irradiation, and Fenton-like oxidation.