Inhibition of fish gill lipoxygenase and blood thinning effects of green tea extract.

The objective of the present study was to determine whether green tea extracts are inhibitory to lipid oxidations catalyzed by lipoxygenase (LOX) and hemoglobin (Hb) using fish as an animal model. Green tea was extracted with water. LOX was extracted from the gills of grey mullet and tilapia, respectively. The LOX activity was determined using chemiluminescence and high-pressure liquid chromatography. The green tea extract showed inhibitory effects on both LOX-catalyzed and Hb-catalyzed oxidation of arachidonic acid and linoleic acid. Blood thinning effects were observed ex vivo by mixing the green tea extract with fish red blood cells and showed that the flow behavior of fish blood becomes closer to the Newtonian type with a thinner consistency. Similar effects were found on tilapia and grey mullet. Copyright 2004 American Chemical Society