Piechowiak Tomasz, Balawejder Maciej, Antos Piotr
Department of Chemistry and Food Toxicology, Faculty of Technology and Life Sciences, University of Rzeszów, Rzeszów, Poland.
Department of Computer Engineering in Management, Faculty of Management, Rzeszów University of Technology, Rzeszów, Poland.
J Sci Food Agric. 2025 Aug 30;105(11):6151-6161. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.14323. Epub 2025 May 1.
Ketoglutaric acid (α-KGA) is a dicarboxylic ketoacid with strong biological activity, whose main role in eukaryotic organisms is to participate in the Krebs cycle. In the present study, we tested whether the application of α-KGA to edible sprout culture would increase the content of low-molecular-weight antioxidants by improving their mitochondrial activity. For this purpose, broccoli sprouts were treated at the beginning of germination with an aqueous solution of α-KGA, at various concentrations (0, 0.1, 1, and 10 mmol L), which after 5 days of germination were analyzed for markers of antioxidant status, oxidative stress, and energy metabolism.
We showed that α-KGA promotes the production of antioxidants, which was manifested by increased content of ascorbic acid, glutathione, and polyphenols, as well as higher expression of the relevant enzymes for the biosynthesis of these substances (galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase, glutathione synthase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase). Induction of antioxidant biosynthesis was associated with an increase in mitochondrial activity, as we observed both an increase in the expression of respiratory proteins (aconitase 1, H-ATPase) as well as an increase in ATP levels, oxidation of NADH, and an accumulation of reactive oxygen species and a consequent increase in the expression of antioxidant enzymes (manganese superoxide dismutase, catalase).
The above results showed that the application of α-KGA to the culture medium can improve the antioxidant status of edible sprouts. However, the effect obtained largely depends on the concentration of α-KGA in the medium, which shows that the mechanism of α-KGA effect on sprouts is based on the phenomenon of hormesis. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.
酮戊二酸（α-KGA）是一种具有强大生物活性的二羧酸酮酸，其在真核生物中的主要作用是参与三羧酸循环。在本研究中，我们测试了将α-KGA应用于可食用芽苗菜培养是否会通过改善其线粒体活性来增加低分子量抗氧化剂的含量。为此，在发芽开始时用不同浓度（0、0.1、1和10 mmol/L）的α-KGA水溶液处理西兰花芽苗菜，发芽5天后分析其抗氧化状态、氧化应激和能量代谢的标志物。
我们表明，α-KGA促进抗氧化剂的产生，这表现为抗坏血酸、谷胱甘肽和多酚含量增加，以及这些物质生物合成相关酶（半乳糖酸-1,4-内酯脱氢酶、谷胱甘肽合酶、苯丙氨酸解氨酶）的表达更高。抗氧化剂生物合成的诱导与线粒体活性的增加有关，因为我们观察到呼吸蛋白（乌头酸酶1、H-ATP酶）的表达增加以及ATP水平、NADH氧化的增加，活性氧的积累以及抗氧化酶（锰超氧化物歧化酶、过氧化氢酶）表达的相应增加。
上述结果表明，在培养基中应用α-KGA可以改善可食用芽苗菜的抗氧化状态。然而，所获得的效果在很大程度上取决于培养基中α-KGA的浓度，这表明α-KGA对芽苗菜的作用机制基于毒物兴奋效应现象。© 2025化学工业协会。
