Burkhardt S, Tan D X, Manchester L C, Hardeland R, Reiter R J
Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, Mail Code 7762, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA.
J Agric Food Chem. 2001 Oct;49(10):4898-902. doi: 10.1021/jf010321+.
The antioxidant melatonin was recently identified in a variety of edible plants and seeds in high concentrations. In plants, as in animals, melatonin is believed to function as a free radical scavenger and possibly in photoperiodism. In this study, melatonin was detected and quantified in fresh-frozen Balaton and Montmorency tart cherries (Prunus cerasus) using high-performance liquid chromatography. Both cherry species contain high levels of melatonin compared to the melatonin concentrations in the blood of mammals. Montmorency cherries (13.46 +/- 1.10 ng/g) contain approximately 6 times more melatonin than do Balaton cherries (2.06 +/- 0.17 ng/g). Neither the orchard of origin nor the time of harvest influenced the amount of melatonin in fresh cherries. The implication of the current findings is that consuming cherries could be an important source of dietary melatonin inasmuch as melatonin is readily absorbed when taken orally. Also, previously published data and the results presented here show that melatonin is not only endogenously produced but also present in the diet.
最近发现抗氧化剂褪黑素在多种可食用植物和种子中含量很高。与动物一样，在植物中，褪黑素被认为起到自由基清除剂的作用，并且可能与光周期现象有关。在本研究中，使用高效液相色谱法对新鲜冷冻的巴拉顿和蒙特莫伦西酸樱桃（欧洲酸樱桃）中的褪黑素进行了检测和定量。与哺乳动物血液中的褪黑素浓度相比，这两种樱桃的褪黑素含量都很高。蒙特莫伦西樱桃（13.46±1.10纳克/克）所含的褪黑素比巴拉顿樱桃（2.06±0.17纳克/克）大约多6倍。樱桃的产地果园和收获时间均不影响新鲜樱桃中褪黑素的含量。当前研究结果表明，食用樱桃可能是膳食中褪黑素的一个重要来源，因为褪黑素口服后很容易被吸收。此外，先前发表的数据以及此处展示的结果表明，褪黑素不仅是内源性产生的，也存在于饮食中。
