Geranylgeranoic acid

In fact, we found that a-tocopherol, an antioxidant hpid-soluble vitamin, prevented geranylgeranoic acid-induced apoptotic cell death of human hepatoma cells. These results are presented in Figure 1 (Shidoji et al, 1997). 

Figure 1. Inhibition of geranylgeranoic acid-induced apoptotic cell death by a-tocophrol. Increasing concentrations (10 100 pM) of a-tocopherol were added to HuH-7 cell cultures with (closed circle) or without (open circle) 10 pM geranylgeranoic acid. After overnight incubation, the number of the viable cells was counted using a Trypan blue dye exclusion method. Means S.E. (n=3) are shown.

Geranylgeranoic acid is a synthetic acyclic diterpenoid acid having 4 ene-bonds, which itself is unlikely to be an oxidant or prooxidant in cells. It is now known, however, that geranylgeranoic acid induces a hyper-production... 

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