Identification of the antiglycative components of Hong Dou Shan (Taxus chinensis) leaf tea.

The formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) may affect life quality and cut lifespan. With the increasingly utilization of new foods and booming development of international trade, large amounts of newly emerging teas have come into our sight. In this study, we evaluated the antiglycative capabilities of five popular herbal teas. Results showed that Chinese Hong Dou Shan (Taxus chinensis; HDS) leaf tea had particularly strong antiglycative activity via scavenging methylglyoxal (MGO) in both chemical (glucose-BSA, fructose-BSA, and MGO-BSA) and cell models (HUVECs). Furthermore, the intracellular AGEs level was alleviated to normal state by the two HDS leaf tea fractions, H-47 and H-57 which were almost as effective as EGCG when added at the same level (50 μg/mL). The effective components against glycation were further separated and tentatively identified as catechin, epicatechin, gallocatechin, epigallocatechin, procyanidin B2, a dihydromyricetin dimer, and a quercetin glucoside by HPLC-DAD and LC-Q-TOF/MS analysis.