Antioxidative Effect of Large Molecular Polymeric Pigments Extracted from Zijuan Pu-erh Tea In Vitro and In Vivo

Abstract

The antioxidative effect of large molecular polymeric pigments (LMPP) extracted from Zijuan Pu-erh tea was investigated in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that LMPP had signifi cant scavenging activities on the hydroxyl radical and the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical in vitro and showed strong reducing power. Moreover, the 50% inhibitory concentrations of LMPP for scavenging DPPH radical and hydroxyl radical were 0.217 mg.mL-1 and 0.461 mg.mL-1, respectively. In vivo, the LMPP-treated rat groups showed signifi cantly increased serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities, reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) formation, increased nitric oxide (NO) production and signifi cantly decreased rat endothelin-1(ET-1) concentrations compared with those in the hyperlipidemia model group (P < 0.05). The serum SOD and GSH-PX activities and NO concentration were 66.88, 29.09 and 55.11% higher, respectively, whereas, the serum ET-1 and MDA concentrations were 34.62 and 59.11% lower in the high-dose LMPP treatment group (1.215 g.kg-1 body weight) than in the hyperlipidemia model group (P < 0.05). These results showed that LMPP has a good antioxidative function and can be considered as a natural antioxidant source.