Herraiz Tomas, Galisteo Juan
Free Radic Res. 2002 Aug;36(8):923-8. doi: 10.1080/1071576021000005762.
Tetrahydro-beta-carboline alkaloids that occur in foods such as wine, seasonings, vinegar and fruit products juices, jams) acted as good radical scavengers (hydrogen- or electron donating) in the ABTS (2,2'-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) assay, and therefore, they could contribute to the beneficial antioxidant capacity attributed to foods. In contrast, the fully aromatic beta-carbolines norharman and harman did not show any radical scavenger activity in the same assay. During the reaction with ABTS.+ radical cation, tetrahydro-beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid such as 1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid (MTCA) and 1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (MTCA-COOH) were converted to harman, whereas 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid (THCA) and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (THCA-COOH) afforded norharman. These results suggest that food and naturally-occurring tetrahydro-beta-carboline alkaloids if accumulated in tissues, as reported elsewhere, might exhibit antioxidant activity.
存在于葡萄酒、调味料、醋及果汁、果酱等水果制品等食物中的四氢-β-咔啉生物碱在ABTS（2,2'-联氮-双-（3-乙基苯并噻唑啉-6-磺酸））测定中表现为良好的自由基清除剂（供氢或供电子），因此，它们可能有助于食物所具有的有益抗氧化能力。相比之下，完全芳香化的β-咔啉去甲哈尔满和哈尔满在相同测定中未表现出任何自由基清除活性。在与ABTS.+自由基阳离子的反应过程中，四氢-β-咔啉-3-羧酸如1-甲基-1,2,3,4-四氢-β-咔啉-3-羧酸（MTCA）和1-甲基-1,2,3,4-四氢-β-咔啉-1,3-二羧酸（MTCA-COOH）转化为哈尔满，而1,2,3,4-四氢-β-咔啉-3-羧酸（THCA）和1,2,3,4-四氢-β-咔啉-1,3-二羧酸（THCA-COOH）则生成去甲哈尔满。这些结果表明，食物及天然存在的四氢-β-咔啉生物碱如果如其他地方所报道的那样在组织中蓄积，可能会表现出抗氧化活性。
