Phosphatases are enzymes that participate in different cell processes, such as cell growth, mitogenesis, metabolism, gene transcription, cell cycle control and stress responses. These enzymes can be regulated by redox process and by chemical compounds. We have previously observed that depending on their structures, commercial flavonoids could differently affect the in vivo activities of phosphatases. The flavonoids anthocyanins are important dietary constituents that provide health benefits and display antioxidant capacity. In this work we described in vivo effects of anthocyanins, extracted from Syzygium cuminii (Jambolão), on mouse liver phosphatases activities. Twenty four hours after subcutaneous administration of 100µM anthocyanins extract on male mice, livers were collected, weighted and centrifuged in acetate buffer with β-mercaptoethanol and sodium chloride. The extract obtained was used for enzyme activities and protein content determinations. Acid phosphatase activities were determined at pH 5.0 using p-nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP) as substrate, at 37ºC for 20 minutes, in the absence (total acid phosphatase, TAP) or in the presence of 10 mM sodium fluoride and tartrate (low molecular weight phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase, LMW-PTP), or in the presence of p-hidroxymercurybenzoate (pHMB) and tartrate (tartrate-resistant acid fosfatase, TRAP). Alkaline phosphatase (AP) activities were determined at pH 9.0 using pNPP as substrate, at 37ºC for 20 minutes. Anthocyanins increased the AP and LMW-PTP activities by about 30% and 20%, respectively, and inhibited the TRAP activity by 20%. At the same conditions, anthocyanins had no significant effect on TAP activity. Previous results have shown that anthocyanins did not significantly affect the in vivo kidney LMW-PTP and TAP activities, but inhibited the in vivo plasma activities by about 70% and 50%, respectively. We concluded that anthocyanins differentially affected in vivo phosphatases activities, and that these effects were tissue-specific.

Supported by: CAPES, CNPq, FAPESP, FAEPEX/UNICAMP