The antioxidant activity of cocoa polyphenolic extract-treated 3T3 fibroblast cells

The existence of reactive oxygen species among cells at high ratio is associated with different types of disorders. A link between exogenous antioxidant supplementation and reducing oxidative stress remains unclear. Since a grave concern has been raised regarding synthetic antioxidant usage, justifying an alternative treatment is required. Cocoa, a naturally occurring plant containing various functional compounds, was used to determine the cytotoxicity and antioxidant efficacy in 3T3 fibroblast cells. In the present study, ABTS and ORAC assays were deployed as a comprehensive analysis for evaluating the antioxidant activity of cocoa polyphenolic extract (CPE) in vitro. Pretreatment of cells with (250, 500, 1000 mg/ml) of CPE completely prevented any toxicity on 3T3 cells and enhanced antioxidant activity. Based on ABTS and ORAC assays, CPE had significantly (P < 0.05) potential antioxidant activities compared with Trolox equivalent. A high correlation between total antioxidant capacity and phenolic contents indicated that phenolic compounds from cocoa were a major contributor of antioxidant activity (0.967 ≤ r ≤ 1.00).These results show that treatment of 3T3 cells in culture with CPE confers a significant protection against oxidation to the cells.