Utility of hesperidinase for food function research: enzymatic digestion of botanical extracts alters cellular antioxidant capacities and anti-inflammatory properties.

Food-derived phytochemicals, many known for their health beneficial effects, often exist in conjugated forms containing sugar moieties such as glucose or rhamnose in foods. The uptake of these compounds requires colonic bacterial cleavage of sugar moieties. However, most studies involved in screening extracts for biological activities do not take this process into account. This study seeks to determine the utility of commercially available hesperidinase to mimic colonic digestion and to test the effects of this treatment on the biological properties of extracts. Using hesperidinase resulted in efficient hydrolysis of Engelhardia roxburghiana Wall. extract containing rhamnose conjugates. Enzymatic digestion enhanced the extract's cellular antioxidant ability by 2-fold in HepG2/C3A and the anti-inflammatory effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 expression in mouse macrophage J774A.1 and human monocyte THP-1 cells. Enzymatic digestion also efficiently processed extracts with mixed rhamnose and glucose conjugates and altered their biological activities. Results of the present study supported the importance of considering enzymatic digestion during the biological activity studies of botanicals.