Cheng-Liang Xie

Herbal tea with antioxidant ingredients has gained increasing attention in the field of functional foods due to their amelioration potential in aging‐related diseases. Wanglaoji herbal tea (WHT) is a kind of traditional beverage made from herbal materials. This study was performed to investigate its antioxidant activity and identify its protective effect on a H₂O₂‐induced cell damage model. In this study, we identified six kinds of phenolic acids with antioxidant activity in WHT, among which rosmarinic acid had the highest content and the highest contribution ratio to the antioxidant activity of WHT. Moreover, compared with the H₂O₂‐induced damage group, the WHT treatment group can significantly increase the viability of cells and decrease the ratio of senescence‐associated β‐galactosidase‐positive cells, intracellular malondialdehyde levels, and the percentage of G1 phase. Furthermore, enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that heme oxygenase1 (HMOX1) was a key gene for protective effect of WHT on oxidative stress‐induced cell damage. Thus, WHT exerted protective effects not only by scavenging reactive oxygen species but also by inducing the expression of cytoprotective genes by activating the HMOX1 pathway, which showed that WHT had a potential of promoting health by reducing oxidative stress‐induced cell damage.

YA is an angiotensin-I-converting enzyme- (ACE-) inhibitory peptide from oyster hydrolysate with antihypertensive activity. Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity were investigated in this study. YA can dose-dependently quench DPPH and ABTS radical and inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide in RAW 264.7 cells. YA is a multifunctional peptide and was selected as an indicator for quality control and efficacy evaluation of oyster hydrolysate. A practical HPLC/UV assay for YA quantification was developed and validated. It was proved to be accurate and reliable, according to parameters such as specificity, linearity, precision, and accuracy. The quantity results of YA showed that the stage of enzymatic hydrolysis was a critical control point for quality control; the efficacy of oyster hydrolysate can be enhanced after digested in the gastrointestinal tract due to the release of YA by brush border peptidases. Therefore, YA from oyster hydrolysate is a potential bioactive ingredient for functional foods to combat hypertension.