Potential cell culture models for antioxidant research

The antioxidant activity of pure compounds, foods, and dietary supplements has been extensively studied with the development of many new antioxiclant and antioxiclant activity assays in recent years. However, these assays, such as total phenolics, total flavonoids, and total antioxiclant activity in vitro, do not reflect the cellular physiological conditions and do not consider the bioavailability and metabolism issues. In addition, the mechanisms of action of antioxiclants go beyond the antioxiclant activity scavenging free radicals in disease prevention and health promotion. Animal models and human studies are expensive and not suitable for initial antioxidant screening of foods and dietary supplements. Therefore, there is a need for cell culture models to access the bioactivity of antioxiclants. This paper is an overview of cell culture models for antioxidant research, as reported at the First International Congress on Antioxidant Methods, held in Orlando, FL, June 16-18, 2004, and outlines potential cell culture models for initial antioxiclant screening and antioxidant research.