Lycopene as an antioxidant in human health and diseases

Lycopene: an antioxidant product reducing dithane toxicity in Allium cepa L

The current study was undertaken to assess the attenuating potential of lycopene against Dithane toxicity in Allium cepa L. roots. A. cepa bulbs were arranged in 6 groups. The control group was treated with tap water while the other groups were treated with 215 mg/L lycopene, 430 mg/L lycopene, 500 mg/L Dithane, 500 mg/L Dithane + 215 mg/L lycopene and 500 mg/L Dithane + 430 mg/L lycopene, respectively. When the treatments were completed, growth inhibition, biochemical, genotoxicity and meristematic cell injury analyses were performed. Lycopene did not cause any toxic effect when applied alone. While rooting percentage, root elongation, weight gain and mitotic index (MI) decreased in response to Dithane exposure, the frequency of micronucleus (MN) and chromosomal abnormalities (CAs) in addition to malondialdehyde (MDA) level and the catalytic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) increased. Dithane promoted fragment, sticky chromosome, vagrant chromosome, unequal distribution of chromatin, bridge, nucleus bud and reverse polarization formation in meristem cells. Dithane also provoked meristematic cell injuries, including indistinct appearance of vascular tissue, epidermis cell damage and flattened cell nucleus. Lycopene mitigated all damage types, depending on the lycopene dose applied with Dithane. Hence, the data analysis revealed that lycopene provides exceptional antioxidant protection against the fungicide Dithane, which has devastating toxic potential.

Fruit nutritional composition, antioxidant and biochemical profiling of diverse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genetic resource

Tomato is the second most important vegetable crop consumed globally, by the virtue of its antioxidant-rich phytochemicals and bioactive compounds. Identifying genotypes with high antioxidant capacities and nutritionally rich phytochemicals is imperative for improving human health. The present study aimed to analyze 21 antioxidant and nutritional compounds in 93 geographically diverse, high yielding, better quality, stress tolerant tomato genotypes (hybrids, parental lines, inbred lines, and advanced lines). Significant variation (p < 0.05) was detected for investigated traits among the tested genotypes. Principal component analysis revealed the hybrids NIAB-Jauhar, Iron-lady F1, NBH-258, Ahmar F1, NIAB-Gohar, the parents H-24, B-25, AVTO1080, Astra and AVTO1003, as well as the lines LBR-17, AVTO1315, AVTO1311 and Lyp-1 revealed superior performance for the traits such as chlorophylls, lycopene, total carotenoids, total antioxidant capacity, total oxidant status, protease, alpha-amylase and total flavonoid content. Whereas the hybrids Surkhail F1, NBH-204, NBH-229, NBH-151, NBH-196, NBH-152, NBH-261, NBH-228, NIAB-Jauhar, NBH-256 and NBH-255, the lines 21354, AVTO1315, Newcherry, LA4097, AVTO1311 and UAF-1 together with the parents Naqeeb, NCEBR-5, M-82 and LBR-10 exhibited significant contribution to the traits such as total soluble sugars, reducing sugars, malondialdehyde, ascorbic acid, esterase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase. Moreover, the semi-determinate and determinate tomato genotypes together with the categories parent and line with positive factor scores of 3.184, 0.015, 0.325 and 0.186 in PC- I, exhibited better performance for the trait such as total chlorophylls, lycopene, total carotenoids, total oxidant status, protease, alpha-amylase, total antioxidant capacity, esterase and total flavonoid content. Whereas again the semi-determinate and indeterminate tomato genotypes along with the category hybrid with positive factor scores of 2.619, 0.252 and 0.114 in PC- II, exhibited better performance for the traits such as total soluble sugars, reducing sugars, chlorophyll b, malondialdehyde content, ascorbic acid, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase. Hybrid vigor was observed in the hybrids for investigated traits. The aforementioned tomato genotypes showing outstanding performance in the respective traits can be exploited in the breeding programs to improve nutritional quality of tomato that can further improve human health.