Structural features, antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibitory activities of proanthocyanidins in leaves of two tea cultivars

In this study the structural features, antioxidant, and tyrosinase inhibitory activities of proanthocyanidins in leaves of two tea cultivars, namely Huangjingui and Qilan, were investigated. The matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and thiolysis-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analyses confirmed that these proanthocyanidins were built up a mixture of procyanidins, propelargonidins, and prodelphinidins, with the predominance of procyanidins. The proanthocyanidins in leaves of Huangjingui and Qilan cultivars exhibited potent antioxidant activities with IC 50 values of 87.36 ± 0.83 and 97.33 ± 0.61 µg/mL in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay, 43.57 ± 0.25 and 55.01 ± 0.22 µg/mL in 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging assay, and with ferric reducing antioxidant power values of 4.83 ± 0.03 and 3.97 ± 0.02 mmol ascorbic acid equivalent/g in ferric reducing antioxidant power assay. It was also found that these proanthocyanidins had strong inhibition on tyrosinase activity with IC 50 values of 54.8 ± 1.27 and 20.0 ± 0.89 µg/mL for Huangjingui and Qilan cultivars, respectively. The results indicated that the proanthocyanidins in leaves of two tea cultivars could be considered as natural antioxidants and tyrosinase inhibitors applied in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries in the future.