The roles of phytochemicals in red wine as a protective agent against alcohol damage

The study presents how phytochemicals in red wine are used to fight against oxidative stress in humans. In order to determine the antioxidant activity of the phytochemicals, two cell lines human hepatoma HepG2 and human astrocytoma 1321N1 was investigated. The cells were pre-treated with different concentrations of antioxidants (quercetin, gallic acid and epicatechin) followed by treatment with acetaldehyde and acrolein to induce toxicity after 24 hours and cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The result shows that the three antioxidants have good protection on the cells but, this protection is dosage dependent. At higher concentration of antioxidant and toxicity inducing compound (acetylaldehyde and acrolein), the oxidative stress on both HepG2 and human astrocytoma cell line 1321N1 noticeably increased. The research concludes that aside the fact that all the antioxidants are good protective agents, quercetin and epicatechin at the same concentration protects most cells in HepG2 and human astrocytoma cell line 1321N1 respectively while moderate consumption of alcohol or red wine is strongly recommended.