Dietary and lifestyle factors have been shown to have a profound effect on
paraoxonase-1 (PON1) activity. Cigarette
smoke has been shown to inhibit its mass and activity where as
resveratrol has been shown to enhance it. We exposed
hepatoma derived cell line (HepG2) to
resveratrol and
nicotine in varying doses and measured PON1 enzymatic activity and PON1 gene expression. In addition, total
protein content of HepG2 cells was also measured.
Resveratrol in a dose of 15 μmol/l or above significantly increased the PON1
enzyme activity (p > 0.001) where as
nicotine in a dose of 1 μmol/l or higher significantly reduced it (p < 0.05). The
resveratrol in this dose also enhanced the PON1 gene expression whereas
nicotine decreased it as compared to controls. However, the
protein conent of cells was not changed suggesting that they were not cytotoxic in the doses used. Till date the
antioxidant vitamins have shown disappointing results against
LDL oxidation and cardiovascular protection. However, the effect of
resveratrol on PON1 gene expression and activity was significant, suggesting increase in PON1 activity and enhanced gene expression may be its alternative mechanism for offering protection against
cardiovascular disease and may be an potential pharmacological agent which can be used for this.