Acetylation of hydroxytyrosol enhances its transport across differentiated Caco-2 cell monolayers

Hydroxytyrosol and hydroxytyrosyl acetate are two well-known phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties that are present in virgin olive oil. Since the in vivo biological activity of polyphenols is dependent on their intestinal absorption and metabolism, the absorption of hydroxytyrosol and hydroxytyrosyl acetate and the extent to which they are conjugated and metabolised during transfer across intestinal Caco-2/TC7 cell monolayers, was investigated. LC-DAD and LC-MS were used for the quantification and identification of metabolites. Further evidence was obtained by observing metabolite susceptibility to β-glucuronidase treatment and by comparison of products of in vitro conjugation reactions of authentic phenolics with those produced by the CaCo-2 cells. Homovanillyl alcohol was the only conjugate detected as a result of hydroxytyrosol metabolism, and accounted for 20% of the total metabolites detected in the basolateral compartment after 2 h of incubation. Hydroxytyrosyl acetate was largely converted into free hydroxytyrosol (38.4%) and subsequently metabolised into homovanillyl alcohol (6.7%). In addition, hydroxytyrosyl acetate glucuronide (17.4%) together with non-metabolised hydroxytyrosyl acetate (37.5%) were also detected. Both hydroxytyrosyl acetate and hydroxytyrosol were transferred across human Caco-2/TC7 cell monolayers, but the acetylated compound exhibited an apparent permeability (PappAP→BL/Papp BL→AP) 2.1-fold higher than free hydroxytyrosol. For both compounds, all conjugates were preferentially transported to the basolateral side. These results show that the acetylation of hydroxytyrosol significantly increases its transport across the small intestinal epithelial cell barrier, and supports further research into hydroxytyrosyl acetate as a hydroxytyrosol prodrug offering enhanced bioavailability.