Characterization and Evaluation of Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Flavonoids from the Fruits of Lycium barbarum.

Tingting Yang,Yamei Yan,Wangting Zhou,Guijie Chen,Youlong Cao,Xiaoxiong Zeng,Yuhang Hu

doi:10.3390/foods11030306

Abstract

The fruits of Lycium barbarum are rich in flavonoids, which may contribute to the health-promoting function of Lycium barbarum. However, the composition of flavonoids in the fruits of Lycium barbarum (LBFs) has received little attention. Thus, the goal of this work was to identify more kinds of flavonoids from fruits of Lycium barbarum by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. The potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of LBFs in vitro were also investigated. Thirteen flavonoid compounds were identified in LBFs, of which daphnetin, 6,7-dihydroxycoumarin, astragalin, taxifolin, eriodictyol, naringenin, and chrysoeriol were identified for the first time in the fruits of Lycium barbarum, which greatly enriched the variety of flavonoids in the fruits of Lycium barbarum. LBFs showed a similar superior antioxidant activity to vitamin C. Furthermore, LBFs exhibited an anti-inflammatory activity by suppressing the production of nitric oxide and pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6, in lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW264.7 macrophage cells. This study demonstrated the potential development of LBFs as functional foods.

Highlights

Flavonoids are a large group of polyhydroxyphenols and widely exist in food-borne plants, such as vegetables, fruits, and grains [1]
The production of nitric oxide (NO) decreased to 6.15 ± 0.58 μM after pretreatment with LBFs at 400 μg/mL. These results indicated that LBFs exihibited anti-inflammatory activity by the inhibition of NO production in a remarkably concentration-dependent manner
The mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in RAW264.7 cells were investigated, and the results showed that the mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β significantly increased after LPS-stimulation in the RAW264.7 macrophage cells (p < 0.05), which is consistent with the previous work [29,44]

Summary

Introduction

Flavonoids are a large group of polyhydroxyphenols and widely exist in food-borne plants, such as vegetables, fruits, and grains [1]. Flavonoids occupy the first place in natural phenols and are important secondary metabolites produced in the long-term evolution of plants [2]. These compounds have a variety of pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antiviral, antitumor, antibacterial, and hypolipidemic activities [3,4,5,6]. The concept of promoting human health by the intervening diet has attracted increasingly more attention from researchers [7]. Natural products have become a research hotspot in topics related to human nutrition and health due to their advantages of small side effects, no drug resistance, and high safety index [8]. The development of a strategy for the identification of flavonoids in different food materials is highly needed

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