Antioxidant activity evaluation of dietary phytochemicals using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), usually generated in multiple cell compartments, play many roles in living cells. Although slight amounts of ROS can act as signaling molecules in signaling pathway transduction, excess ROS lead to oxidative stress resulting in protein and lipid oxidation and DNA damage. Cells have developed an antioxidant defense system to maintain the redox balance and protect cells from oxidative damage. Current chemical assays evaluating the oxidative status are solely in vitro experiments. Hence, cellular evaluation of the redox balance, and antioxidant activity is very important. There are two model systems in cellular antioxidant activity assay: cancer cells such as PC-12 and HepG2, and yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with which give promising results in studying various mammalian biological processes including oxidative stress response and antioxidant defense systems. Herein we review a model organism system - Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the antioxidant activity evaluation of dietary natural products.