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Tea polysaccharides (TPSs), one of the major bioactive ingredients in tea, have been widely studied due to their variety of biological activities, including antioxidant, cancer prevention, hypoglycemia, anti-fatigue, anti-coagulant, anti-obesity and immunomodulatory effect. The biological effectiveness of TPSs has direct relation with their structures such as monosaccharide composition, molecular weight, glycosidic linkages, conformation and others, which can be influenced by tea materials, processing methods, extraction and purification procedures among others. Comparing to the study of tea polyphenols, the exploration of TPSs in structural elucidation and biofunctionality is very preliminary. Yet several factors affecting the structural change of TPSs have been studied and identified. Consequently, the variation of some TPS biological activity brought by the change of TPS structures has been evaluated and preliminary correlation of structure activity relationship of TPSs has been performed. Therefore, this review aims to serve as a summary research report regarding the influencing factors on TPSs structures and consequential effects on the biological activities of TPSs. We hope to provide updated information and systematic references for future study and functional food development of TPSs.


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Structure variety and its potential effects on biological activity of tea polysaccharides

Show Author's information Ting HuaPeng WuaJianfeng ZhanaWeixin WangaJunfeng ShenaMeiyan Wangb( )Chi-Tang HocShiming Lia( )
Hubei Key Laboratory of Economic Forest Germplasm Improvement and Resources Comprehensive Utilization, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China
School of Biotechnology and Food Science, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China
Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, NJ 08901, USA

Peer review under responsibility of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

Abstract

Tea polysaccharides (TPSs), one of the major bioactive ingredients in tea, have been widely studied due to their variety of biological activities, including antioxidant, cancer prevention, hypoglycemia, anti-fatigue, anti-coagulant, anti-obesity and immunomodulatory effect. The biological effectiveness of TPSs has direct relation with their structures such as monosaccharide composition, molecular weight, glycosidic linkages, conformation and others, which can be influenced by tea materials, processing methods, extraction and purification procedures among others. Comparing to the study of tea polyphenols, the exploration of TPSs in structural elucidation and biofunctionality is very preliminary. Yet several factors affecting the structural change of TPSs have been studied and identified. Consequently, the variation of some TPS biological activity brought by the change of TPS structures has been evaluated and preliminary correlation of structure activity relationship of TPSs has been performed. Therefore, this review aims to serve as a summary research report regarding the influencing factors on TPSs structures and consequential effects on the biological activities of TPSs. We hope to provide updated information and systematic references for future study and functional food development of TPSs.

Keywords: Influencing factors, Relationship, Tea polysaccharides, Structure variety, Bioactivities

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Publication history

Received: 25 January 2021
Revised: 17 April 2021
Accepted: 18 April 2021
Published: 04 February 2022
Issue date: May 2022

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© 2022 Beijing Academy of Food Sciences.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Hubei Science and Technology Plan Key Project (G2019ABA100), Assessment and Comprehensive Utilization of Characteristic Biological Resources in Dabie Mountains (4022019006), Natural Science Fund of Hubei Province (2019CFB395).

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This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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