Influence of Bovine Serum Albumin-Flavonoid Interaction on the Antioxidant Activity of Dietary Flavonoids: New Evidence from Electrochemical Quantification

Interaction between dietary flavonoids and albumins plays an important role in the bioavailability and bioactivity of flavonoids. Therefore, the influence of this interaction on the antioxidant activity of flavonoid has attracted much interest. In this study, a ceric reducing/antioxidant capacity assay (CRAC) was employed to investigate the effects of albumin-flavonoid interaction on the antioxidant activity of seven common flavonoids. The results obtained from the CRAC assay were also compared separately with the results from the spectrophotometric methods including 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. All the flavonoids show a decreasing in the antioxidant activity detected by CRAC assay, indicting a “masking effect” of bovine serum albumin (BSA)-flavonoid interaction. However, the results from DPPH and FRAP assays were conflicting, which may be attributed to the influence of solvent systems.