Journal article

Effect-Directed Profiling of Powdered Tea Extracts for Catechins, Theaflavins, Flavonols and Caffeine


Authors listMorlock, Gertrud E.; Heil, Julia; Inarejos-Garcia, Antonio M.; Maeder, Jens

Publication year2021

JournalAntioxidants

Volume number10

Issue number1

eISSN2076-3921

Open access statusGold

DOI Linkhttps://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10010117

PublisherMDPI


Abstract

The antioxidative activity of Camelia sinensis tea and especially powdered tea extracts on the market, among others used as added value in functional foods, can considerably vary due to not only natural variance, but also adulteration and falsification. Thus, an effect-directed profiling was developed to prove the functional effects or health-promoting claims. It took 3-12 min per sample, depending on the assay incubation time, for 21 separations in parallel. Used as a fast product quality control, it can detect known and unknown bioactive compounds. Twenty tea extracts and a reference mixture of 11-bioactive compounds were investigated in parallel under the same chromatographic conditions by a newly developed reversed phase high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method. In eight planar on-surface assays, effect-directed tea profiles were revealed. Catechins and theaflavins turned out to be not only highly active, but also multi-potent compounds, able to act in a broad range of metabolic pathways. The flavan-3-ols acted as radical scavengers (DPPH center dot assay), antibacterials against Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis bacteria, and inhibitors of tyrosinase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, and acetylcholinesterase. Further effects against Gram-negative Aliivibrio fischeri bacteria and beta-glucuronidase were assigned to other components in the powdered tea extracts. According to their specifications, the activity responses of the powdered tea extracts were higher than in mere leaf extracts of green, white and black tea. The multi-imaging and effect-directed profiling was not only able to identify known functional food ingredients, but also to detect unknown bioactive compounds (including bioactive contaminants, residues or adulterations).




Citation Styles

Harvard Citation styleMorlock, G., Heil, J., Inarejos-Garcia, A. and Maeder, J. (2021) Effect-Directed Profiling of Powdered Tea Extracts for Catechins, Theaflavins, Flavonols and Caffeine, Antioxidants, 10(1), Article 117. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10010117

APA Citation styleMorlock, G., Heil, J., Inarejos-Garcia, A., & Maeder, J. (2021). Effect-Directed Profiling of Powdered Tea Extracts for Catechins, Theaflavins, Flavonols and Caffeine. Antioxidants. 10(1), Article 117. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10010117


Last updated on 2025-10-06 at 11:20