Structural characteristics for superoxide anion radical scavenging and productive activities of green tea polyphenols including proanthocyanidin dimers.

The purpose of this paper is to report structural characteristics for superoxide anion radical (O(2(-))) scavenging and productive activities of green tea polyphenols. (-)-Epicatechin 3-O-gallate (5), (-)-epigallocatechin (6), (-)-epigallocatechin 3-O-gallate (7), (+)-gallocatechin-(4alpha-->8')-epigallocatechin (8), and (-)-epigallocatechin-(2beta-->O-->7', 4beta-->8')-epicatechin 3'-O-gallate (9) were isolated from the tea plant Camellia sinensis L. (+)-Epigallocatechin-(2beta-->O-->7, 4beta-->8')-epicatechin (10) was prepared by hydrolyzing 9. The polyphenols, as well as commercially available pyrogallol (1), methyl gallate (2), (+)-catechin (3), (-)-epicatechin (4), and the flavonol myricetin (11), produced O(2(-)) in descending order 1, 6 asymptotically equal to11 asymptotically equal to8, 7, 10, 2 asymptotically equal to9, 5 asymptotically equal to4. In the polyphenols with the pyrogallol-type B-ring and/or galloyl group, electron-withdrawing substituents (carbonyl and ketal carbons) and/or intramolecular hydrogen bonding constituted structural characteristics against the autoxidation reaction. The O(2(-))-productive activity partially counteracted O(2(-))-scavenging activity. However, such structural characteristics appeared to enhance the scavenging activity, accordingly the polyphenols in effect served as O(2(-))-scavengers in descending order 9 asymptotically equal to7, 2, 11, 8, 10, 3 asymptotically equal to4. On the other hand, 6, having no such structural characteristic, acted as a O(2(-))-generator, as well as 1. Further assessments covering tannins (e.g., A-type proanthocyanidin dimer 9) are needed to identify which green tea polyphenols are the most desirable chemopreventive agents.

D-ribose competitively reverses inhibition by D-psicose of larval growth in Caenorhabditis elegans.

D-Psicose inhibits the growth of L1 stage Caenorhabditis elegans. Sugars, involved in the pentose phosphate pathway, were examined for their ability to reverse the inhibition. Among these sugars, D-ribose specifically exerted reversing activity in a competitive manner. The ingested sugars are probably phosphorylated, although it remains to be seen whether D-psicose is phosphorylated. The structural similarity of D-psicofuranose 6-phosphate (Pf6P) or D-psicofuranose (Pf) to D-ribofuranose 5-phosphate (Rf5P) suggests that Pf6P or Pf is reversibly docked in the active site(s) of ribose-5-phosphate isomerase(s) to act as an antimetabolite to Rf5P, leading to inhibition of the biosynthesis of nucleic acids. D-Psicose was much less potent against the L4 stage than against the L1 stage. This is probably because in the L4 stage the somatic cell lineages come to an end and the number of germ-line nuclei increases to about 1000.