Polyphenol metabolismfrom in vitro to in vivo approaches

Resumo

Phenolic compounds are phytochemicals widely distributed in our diet due to the intake of plant-derived products -e.g. fruits and vegetables, cocoa derivatives, tea, coffee or red wine-. Several beneficial effects have been established related to the intake of dietary phenolic compounds, such as the reduction of the risk of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, prevention of illnesses related with oxidative stress, or the reduction of some cancers, among others. But less is known about how phenolic compounds act in the body after their ingestion and which phenolic metabolites reach the metabolic targets. This thesis was focus on the evaluation of the bioaccessibility and digestibility of dietary phenolic compounds during the digestion process; and on the study of the absorption, metabolism and tissue distribution of phenolic compounds and their metabolites. To complete with these objectives, (i) the evaluation of the bioaccessibility and digestibility of dietary phenolic compounds by the use of an in vitro digestion system; (ii) the development of an in vitro colonic fermentation model and the evaluation of the colonic fermentation of dietary phenolic compounds (ii) the development of analytical methodologies to quantify polyphenols and their metabolites in biological samples (plasma and tissues) and (iii) the study of the absorption, metabolism and tissue distribution of dietary phenolic compounds (mainly procyanidins and olive oil phenolics) and their metabolites in vivo using rats as an animal model were performed. As a result of the experimental work developed within this dissertation, the stability during the digestion process of dimer and trimerprocyanidins was demonstrated. The colonic metabolic pathways of individual phenolic compounds were successfully established detecting hydroxylated phenolic acids as the main colonic metabolites of flavonoids. Parallel, two chromatographic methods combining off-line solid-phase extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) were successfully validated for the determination of phenolic compounds and their metabolites in biological samples, which were used to detect and quantify polyphenols and their metabolites in the biological samples obtained as a result of the in vivo acute and chronic studies performed using phenolic extract and polyphenol-rich foods as a polyphenol sources. Derived from the in vivo studies were established that, phenolic metabolites were widely distributed through the body reaching practically all the organs; procyanidin plasmatic bioavailability and tissue distribution were modulated according to the food matrix composition and the intake of phenols by a naturally rich-phenol or by a phenol-enriched food could vary the pharmacokinetic parameters of the phenolic metabolites. Additionally environmental factors, such as the diet, may modulate the hepatic glucuronidation capacity toward flavonoids in the parental and offspring rats, as was demonstrated with an in utero exposure of a high fructose and saturated fat diet.Nonetheless, data from animal and in vitro experiments represent the previous step to the human clinical studies because it may not be readily extrapolatable to humans. So, human clinical studies should be the colophon of all the nutritional studies related with functional foods.