Daiki Honma

Comprehensive separation and structural analyses of polyphenols and related compounds from bracts of hops (Humulus lupulus L.).

A novel sequential chromatographic technique was applied to the comprehensive separation of polyphenols and related compounds from a hop bract extract. Over 100 types of constituents were effectively isolated from only 25 g of extract in high yields by high-speed countercurrent chromatography followed by hydrophilic interaction chromatography and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Among the materials isolated, the structures of 39 compounds were elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data including electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and one-dimensional/two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance. Three new compounds, 1 known compound identified for the first time in plants, and 20 known compounds that have not been reported in hops, were found. The hop bract extract also contained an abundance of highly oligomeric proanthocyanidins, which consisted of B-type procyanidin structures.

Identifications of inhibitors of IgE production by human lymphocytes isolated from 'Cha Chuukanbohon Nou 6' tea leaves

BACKGROUND Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is consumed all over the world and in especially large quantities in Japan and China, where it has been used not only as a daily beverage but also for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Tea has been found to exhibit various bioregulatory activities, including antiallergic, anticarcinogenic, antimetastatic, antioxidative, antihypertensive, antihypercholesterolemic, anti-dental caries and antibacterial effects, and to influence intestinal flora. RESULTS Cha Chuukanbohon Nou 6 is a tea cultivar improved by the National Institute of Vegetable and Tea Science (NIVTS) in Japan. On comparing chemical constituents of 11 varieties of tea leaves by high-performance liquid chromatography, we found two new major compounds in Cha Chuukanbohon Nou 6. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed these compounds to be theogallin and 1,2-di-O-galloyl-4,6-O-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-beta-D-glucopyranose. The two were similar in chemical structure to strictinin, an inhibitor of immunoglobulin (Ig) production. Thus their effects on the production of Igs by peripheral blood lymphocytes were tested. Both compounds, like strictinin, inhibited IgE production. CONCLUSION The results suggest Cha Chuukanbohon Nou 6 to be the basis of an antiallergic beverage.