| Abstract
| - Ferulic acid (FA) is reported as a good antioxidant absorbed by human or rat but only few data dealwith the influence of the food matrix on its bioavailability and with its potential protection againstcardiovascular diseases and cancer. Wheat bran is used as a source of ferulic acid, the compoundbeing mainly bound to arabinoxylans of the plant cell walls. Pharmacokinetic profiles of FA and itsmetabolites are established in rats. Free and conjugated FA quickly appear in plasma, reach a plateau1 h after intake and remain approximately constant at 1 μM up to 24 h. 2.3% of FA are eliminated inurine. Compared with results obtained after intake of free FA, the presence of FA-arabinoxylansbonds in the food matrix increases the occurrence time of FA in the organism and decreases thelevel of urinary excretion in 24 h. Nevertheless, sulfated FA is still the main plasmatic form. Theantioxidant activity of plasmas of rats fed with a standard diet (containing no FA), pure ferulic acid(5.15 mg FA/kg bw) or bran (4.04 mg FA/kg bw) are measured in an ex vivo test using AAPH as freeradical inducer. Plasmas of rats fed with bran show a better antioxidant activity than the control groupand the pure FA supplemented group, increasing the resistance of erythrocytes to hemolysis by factorsof 2 and 1.5, respectively. These results show the good bioavailability of FA from bran and its potentialefficiency to protect organism against pathology involving radical steps of development. Keywords: Ferulic acid; wheat bran; bioavailability; conjugated metabolites; antioxidant activity
|
