Possible Mechanisms of Fullerene C60 Antioxidant Action

V. A. Chistyakov,1 Yu. O. Smirnova,2,3 E. V. Prazdnova,1 and A. V. Soldatov2 1 Research Institute of Biology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don 344090, Russia 2 Research Center for Nanoscale Structure of Matter, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don 344090, Russia 3 Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Yu. O. Smirnova; ysmirnov@purdue.edu Received 6 June 2013; Revised 2 August 2013; Accepted 13 September 2013Academic Editor: Claiton Leonetti Lencina

Possible Mechanisms of Fullerene C60 Ant

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Copyright © 2013 V. A. Chistyakov et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 60

Novel mechanism of antioxidant activity of buckminsterfullerene C based on protons absorbing and mild uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration and phosphorylation was postulated. In the present study we confirm this hypothesis using computer modeling based on Density Functional Theory. Fullerene’s geroprotective activity is sufficiently higher than those of the most powerful reactive oxygen species scavengers. We propose here that C60 has an ability to acquire positive charge by absorbing inside several protons and this complex could penetrate into mitochondria. Such a process allows for mild uncoupling of respiration and phosphorylation. This, in turn, leads to the decrease in ROS production.