Barley Phenolamides Effectively Scavenge Harmful Methylglyoxal In Vitro and in Mice.

SCOPE

Methylglyoxal (MGO), a harmful reactive dicarbonyl, is involved in the pathogenesis and development of diabetes and diabetic complications. The goal of this study is to determine whether bioactive phenolamides in barley, p-coumaroylagmatine (pCAA) and feruloylagmatine (FAA), which share a similar guanidine group to diabetic drug metformin, have the capacity to detoxify MGO.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In this study, the MGO-trapping abilities of these two phenolamides both in vitro and in mice are evaluated. It is found that in vitro anti-MGO capacities of pCAA and FAA are comparable to that of metformin, and both phenolamides could rapidly scavenge MGO via forming mono- and di-MGO adducts validated by in-house synthesized standards and interpretation of respective LC-MS (n = 2-3) data. Furthermore, mono-MGO conjugates of phenolamides are detected from feces and urine of mice after oral administration of the corresponding phenolamides.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that barley phenolamides may have the potentials to be developed as alternative therapeutics to prevent the development of MGO-associated diabetes and diabetic complications.