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Hydroxyl radical scavenging properties of cyclitols

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

Birgit Orthen ,
Marianne Popp  and
Nicholas Smirnoff
Birgit Orthen
Affiliation:
Institut für Angewandte Botanik, Westfällische Wilhems-Universität, Hindenburgplatz 55, D-48143 Münster, Germany
Marianne Popp
Affiliation:
Institut für Angewandte Botanik, Westfällische Wilhems-Universität, Hindenburgplatz 55, D-48143 Münster, Germany
Nicholas Smirnoff
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, Hatherly Laboratories, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK
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Extract

Cyclitols are low molecular weight substances which accumulate in plant cells in response to various environmental stress situations, for example drought (Ford 1984), salinity (Gorham et al. 1984), low temperature (Richter et al. 1990).

Apart from their more general role in osmotic adjustment, only in the case of salt stress is their mode of function well understood. Cyclitols (e.g. pinitol) accumulate when plants are exposed to increasing salt concentration (Paul & Cockburn 1989) and act as compatible solutes (Sommer et al. 1990) as defined by Brown & Simpson (1972).

The significance of cyclitol accumulation in stress adaptation of plants to drought and cold still remains uncertain. However, it is generally accepted that drought and cold as well as several other stress situations lead to an enhanced generation of oxygen free radicals (Elstner 1990; Smirnoff & Colombe 1988), including the hydroxyl radical as the most harmful one. The report by Smirnoff & Cumbes (1989) that myo-inositol is an effective hydroxyl radical scavenger prompted us to test other naturally-occuring cyclitols like pinitol, quebrachitol, 1-D-1-O-methyl-muco-inositol, ononitol and quercitol for their ability to scavenge hydroxyl radicals.

Type
Short Communications
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 102: Oxygen and Environmental Stress in Plants , 1994 , pp. 269 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1994

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References

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