Hepatoprotective effect of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside–lauric acid ester against H2O2-induced oxidative damage in LO2 cells

[Display omitted] •Acylation of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G) enhances its anti-oxidant activity.•C3G–laurate ester (C3G–LA) protected liver (LO2) cells from H2O2-induced injury.•C3G–LA protected cells by up-regulating PI3K/Akt-mediated Nrf2–HO-1/NQO1 pathway. Acylation of anthocyanin with fatty acid has been extensively applied for the improvement of their lipophilicity and stability. However, their functionalities are not fully investigated. This work prepared cyanidin-3-O-glucoside–lauric acid ester (C3G–LA) and investigated its protective effect against oxidative stress in H2O2-induced human normal liver (LO2) cells. The results indicated that C3G–LA possessed notable antioxidant activity and better protective effect than its anthocyanin precursor cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G). It protected the cells from H2O2-induced cell death and apoptosis by suppressing the overproduction of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde, restoring superoxide dismutase activity and ameliorating mitochondrial dysfunction and membrane damage. The increase in the expression levels of phosphorylated Akt, Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO1 further indicated that the antioxidant protective effect of C3G–LA involved the PI3K/Akt-mediated activation of the Nrf2–HO-1/NQO1 pathway. The findings indicated that, in addition to improve lipophilicity and stability, acylation of anthocyanin can enhance their anti-oxidative stress activity.