JPH0680580A - Plasma cholesterol depressant and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the subject depressant containing, as active ingredient, a polysaccharide found in tea leaves. CONSTITUTION:The objective plasma cholesterol depressant containing, as active ingredient, a polysaccharide obtained by extracting tea leaves with water or warm water. This polysaccharide (M-15) can be obtained by a process wherein tea leaves are extracted with water or warm water followed by eliminating the ingredients of about >=200000 in molecular weight using a polysulfone-based ultrafiltration membrane and then further eliminating the ingredients of about <=20000 in molecular weight using another polysulfone-based filtration membrane; the remaining fraction is injected into a column packed with a styrene- divinylbenzene-based polymer, and ethanol is added to the resulting discharged solution followed by being left at rest for about a whole day and night at a low temperature, and the resulting precipitate is subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography to separate the target polysaccharide (M-15). This depressant is useful as a preventive/medicine for hyperlipemia as an inducive factor for diseases such as obesity, arteriosclerosis, and thrombosis.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a plasma cholesterol lowering agent that can be extracted from tea leaves and a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As Japan's diet becomes richer,
An increasing number of adults have the symptoms of hyperlipidemia, which causes diseases such as obesity, arteriosclerosis, and thrombosis, and has become a problem.
As a prophylactic or therapeutic agent for this hyperlipidemia, the plasma cholesterol lowering action of the indigestible polysaccharide component contained in various foods has been focused so far. On the other hand, in tea,
Although catechin contained in tea has been reported to have a plasma cholesterol lowering effect, it has been reported to have a blood sugar level lowering effect on the polysaccharide component contained in tea, but a plasma cholesterol lowering effect has been reported. No report yet.

[0003]

Therefore, the present inventor studied a method for separating and purifying a polysaccharide component from tea, further studying whether or not this tea extract has a plasma cholesterol action, and It is intended to provide a plasma cholesterol lowering agent as a preventive or therapeutic agent for hyperlipidemia and a method for producing the same by clarifying the components.

[0004]

A plasma cholesterol-lowering agent that solves the above-mentioned problems is a polysaccharide obtained by extracting tea leaves with water or warm water as an active ingredient.

The above-mentioned polysaccharide contains at least one of ribose, arabinose and glucose.

The above-mentioned plasma cholesterol lowering agent extracts tea leaves with water or warm water and has a molecular weight of about 20 using an ultrafiltration membrane.
Removes more than 10,000 components and uses other filtration membranes to obtain a molecular weight of about 2
10,000 or less components are removed to obtain a component having a molecular weight of about 20,000 or more and about 200,000 or less, and the mixture is allowed to flow out to a column packed with a styrene / divinyl / benzene-based polymer, and ethanol is added to the column for a predetermined time, preferably at a cold temperature. It is allowed to stand for one day under the following conditions, and the obtained precipitate is passed through a column packed with a gel agent capable of separating and extracting components according to the difference in molecular weight to obtain a polysaccharide, which can be manufactured as an active ingredient. is there.

[0007] More specifically, as tea, raw tea leaves, dried tea leaves, green tea, processed products thereof, and other teas can be used.
Either one or a plurality of mixed tea leaves are extracted with water or warm water, and the extract is subjected to ultrafiltration using a polysulfone-based organic ultrafiltration membrane to extract a polysaccharide. The above components are removed, and components having a molecular weight of about 20,000 or less are further removed using a polysulfone-based filtration membrane to extract a tea component having a molecular weight of about 20,000 or more and less than about 200,000.

Further, this extract is made to flow down into a cylindrical column filled with a styrene / divinyl / benzene polymer to adsorb and remove tea tannin, tea polyphenols such as tannin oxide, and caffeine.

Ethanol is further added to the component thus obtained, and the mixture is allowed to stand at a cold temperature for about 1 day to separate and remove low molecular weight amino acids, monosaccharides, oligo acids and the like. The precipitate thus produced can be separated by high performance gel-verification chromatography to obtain a polysaccharide, and a plasma cholesterol-lowering agent using this as an active ingredient can be obtained.

[0010]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, a plasma cholesterol lowering agent containing a polysaccharide obtained by extracting tea leaves with water or warm water as an active ingredient could be produced. This polysaccharide is extracted from tea leaves with low-molecular components, high-molecular components and tannins,
Caffeine, amino acids, monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, etc. were removed, and the precipitate was passed through a column packed with a gel agent capable of separating and extracting the components according to the difference in molecular weight. The polysaccharide is composed of at least one of ribose, arabinose and glucose.

In this way, since a natural product, in particular, a component obtained from tea leaves, which is quoted in large amounts on a daily basis, is used, it can be a highly safe depressant and can be produced in large quantities. In addition, manufacturing can be performed relatively easily.

It has been found that the above-mentioned polysaccharide has an excellent plasma cholesterol lowering action as well as a liver cholesterol lowering action.

[0013]

EXAMPLES The tea polysaccharide component (M-1 according to the present invention will be described below.
The extraction method of 5), component properties and pharmacological effects will be described.

[Extraction of Tea Polysaccharide Component] 60 to 90 tea leaves
The mixture was mixed with warm water at ℃ at a ratio of 1:10 to 20: 1, extracted for 5 to 30 minutes, squeezed, and the juice was further concentrated to 2 to 1/5. The obtained concentrate is ultrafiltered using a polysulfone organic ultrafiltration membrane (product name Nitto NTU-3150) to remove polymer components having a molecular weight of about 200,000 or more, and another polysulfone Was used to remove low-molecular components having a molecular weight of about 20,000 or less, and tea components in the range of about 20,000 to 200,000 shown as shaded areas in FIG. 1 were obtained. FIG. 1 is a graph showing the composition of the tea polysaccharide composite component.

Next, the tea component thus obtained having a molecular weight of about 20,000 to 200,000 is allowed to naturally flow down to a cylindrical column filled with a styrene-divinyl-benzene polymer (product name Mitsubishi Kasei EP-21), and under reduced pressure. Concentrated in. Concentrate this concentrate again, add an equal volume of ethanol to it, and cool it to about
A precipitate was obtained by allowing the mixture to stand at a temperature of about 1 day for 24 hours, and the precipitate was collected by centrifugation and freeze-dried.

Then, the dry powder is dissolved in a small amount of distilled water, and a hydrophilic porous polyethylene gel (product name Asahi Pack GFC-50) is used as a packing material, and separation is carried out by high-speed gel-verification chromatography using water as a developing agent. Then, the tea polysaccharide component (M-15) having a single peak shown in FIG. 2 could be extracted. FIG. 2 is a graph showing the molecular weight distribution of the tea polysaccharide component.

[Ingredient Analysis by HPLC] The tea polysaccharide ingredient (M-15) was subjected to high-speed gel vermion chromatography using hydrophilic porous polyethylene gel (using Asahi Pack GFC-50) as a packing material and water as a developing agent. ,
As shown in FIG. 2, it was confirmed to be a single component.

[Qualitative analysis by liquid chromatography]
The molecular weight of the tea polysaccharide component (M-15) was measured by measuring the elution time by chromatography of the different-molecular-weight different substances (P-20, P-50, P-100, P-200) shown in FIG.
The molecular weight calibration curve shown in Fig. 2 was prepared and the relationship between the retention time and the molecular weight inherent to the chromatography was determined.
It was calculated from the holding time of 5. Since the retention time of M-15 is as shown in FIG. 2, the average molecular weight of M-15 was estimated to be about 150,000.

[Qualitative Analysis by Gas Chromatography] The tea polysaccharide component (M-15) is hydrolyzed and further reacted with hexamethylsidirane and trimethylchlorosilane to synthesize a trimethylsilyl ether compound (TMS-methylglucoside) of sugar. did. The TMS-methyl glucosides thus obtained were each analyzed by gas chromatography. As a result, the tea polysaccharide component (M-15) was composed of ribose, flavinose and glucose at a ratio of about 8: 15: 2. It is presumed that it is preferable to be configured to include at least one or all.

[Color, Taste] The tea polysaccharide component (M-15) was a pale brownish yellow, amorphous fibrous powder, which was easily soluble in water and had no taste.

[Plasma Cholesterol Lowering Action Test] Male Wistar rats were preliminarily fed with rat solid feed and tap water, and 12 animals having an average body weight of 110 g were selected.
Basic feed (25% of casein,
Vitamin 1%, Choline chloride 0.2%, Inorganic matter 3.5
%, Corn oil 5%, corn starch 65.3%), and the other 5% tea polysaccharide component (M-15) added feed (gasein 2
5%, fiber 5%, vitamin 1%, choline chloride 0.2
%, Inorganic matter 3.5%, corn oil 5%, corn starch 6
0.3%), room temperature 23 degrees, light time 8: 00-2
0:00, dark time 20:00 to 8:00, and feed and water were fed for 21 days under the condition of free intake.

Table 1 shows the body weight, liver weight, and analysis values of liver and plasma substances of the rats after 21 days of breeding.

[0023]

[Table 1]

Although there was no significant difference between the two sections in terms of body weight, plasma, liver triglyceride, and phospholipids, both of the tea polysaccharide components (M- 15) 5%
The value of the rats fed the supplemented feed showed a statistically significantly lower value than that of the rats fed the basic feed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a gel permeation chromatogram showing the composition of a water-soluble tea polysaccharide complex component.

FIG. 2 is a gel permeation chromatogram showing the molecular weight distribution of the tea polysaccharide component (M-15).

FIG. 3 is a molecular weight calibration curve graph in which the molecular weight of the tea polysaccharide component (M-15) was measured.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plasma cholesterol-lowering agent comprising a polysaccharide obtained by extracting tea leaves with water or warm water as an active ingredient. 2. The plasma cholesterol lowering agent according to claim 1, wherein the polysaccharide is a polysaccharide containing at least one of ribose, arabinose and glucose. 3. Tea leaves are extracted with water or warm water, components having a molecular weight of about 200,000 or more are removed by using an ultrafiltration membrane, components having a molecular weight of about 20,000 or less are removed by using another filtration membrane, A component having a molecular weight of about 20,000 or more and about 200,000 or less was obtained, which was then allowed to flow out to a column packed with a styrene-divinyl-benzene-based polymer, ethanol was added to this, and the mixture was allowed to stand at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time, and the resulting precipitate was obtained. A method for producing a plasma cholesterol-lowering agent, which comprises passing a substance through a column packed with a gel agent capable of separating and extracting components according to the difference in molecular weight to obtain a polysaccharide, and using this as an active ingredient.