Department of Food Technology, XaRTA-UTPV, Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Agrària, Universitat de Lleida, Avda/Alcalde Rovira Roure 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
Food Funct. 2011 Sep;2(9):562-8. doi: 10.1039/c1fo10083a. Epub 2011 Sep 5.
Procyanidins are present in a wide range of dietary foods and their metabolism is well known. Nevertheless, the biological target and their distribution are topics lacking information. The purpose of the present work was to study the metabolism and distribution of procyanidins and their metabolites in rat plasma and different tissues, such as liver, brain, lung, kidney, intestine, testicle, spleen, heart and thymus, after 2 h of an acute intake of hazelnut extract rich in procyanidins (5 g kg(-1) of rat body weight). The interest of an acute intake of procyanidins instead of repeated low doses from daily ingestion of is to achieve a concentration of metabolites in the tissues that allows their detection and quantification. The results showed that catechin and epicatechin-glucuronide, methyl catechin and epicatechin-glucuronide and methyl catechin and epicatechin-sulphate were detected in plasma samples at the μmol level. On the other hand, catechin-glucuronide, methyl catechin-glucuronide and methyl catechin-sulphate were identified in some tissues, such as thymus, intestine, lung, kidney, spleen and testicle at the nmol level. Procyanidins with a low grade of polymerization (dimers and trimers) were detected in plasma samples and the intestine. Additionally, a wide range of simple aromatic acids from fermentation by the colonic microflora was detected in all tissues studied.
原花青素广泛存在于各种食物中，其代谢途径广为人知。然而，原花青素的生物靶标及其分布仍是缺乏信息的课题。本研究的目的是研究大鼠血浆及其不同组织（如肝、脑、肺、肾、肠、睾丸、脾、心和胸腺）中原花青素及其代谢物在急性摄入富含原花青素的榛子提取物（5 g/kg 大鼠体重）后 2 小时的代谢和分布情况。与每日摄入低剂量相比，急性摄入原花青素的优点是可以在组织中达到代谢物的浓度，从而可以检测和定量分析。结果表明，血浆样品中检测到儿茶素和表儿茶素-葡糖苷酸、甲基儿茶素和表儿茶素-葡糖苷酸以及甲基儿茶素和表儿茶素-硫酸盐的浓度达到 μmol 水平。另一方面，在组织中（如胸腺、肠、肺、肾、脾和睾丸）以 nmol 水平检测到儿茶素-葡糖苷酸、甲基儿茶素-葡糖苷酸和甲基儿茶素-硫酸盐。在血浆样品和肠道中检测到低聚合度（二聚体和三聚体）的原花青素。此外，在所研究的所有组织中均检测到由结肠微生物菌群发酵产生的一系列简单芳香酸。
