茶黄素生物学活性研究进展

茶黄素是红茶加工过程中儿茶素在多酚氧化酶的催化作用下缩合而成的一类具有苯骈卓酚酮结构的化合物的总称，它是红茶品质形成的决定因素，具有多种生物学功能，被称为“茶叶中的软黄金”，在食品、保健品以及天然药物等领域具有巨大的潜力与广阔的应用前景。茶黄素因其具有多种特殊的生物学活性而受到消费市场追捧，近年关于其具体生物学活性的研究也逐步成为热点。目前，众多研究表明，茶黄素具有降血脂、抗肿瘤、调节血糖、延缓衰老等多种生物学活性，并且其作用机制涉及广泛，包括核因子κB（nuclear factor κB，NF-κB）、磷脂酰肌醇3-激酶/蛋白激酶（phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B，PI3K/Akt）、激活蛋白1（activating protein-1，AP-1）等信号通路，具有多靶点、多环节、多效应等作用特点。但由于高纯度茶黄素与茶黄素单体难以获取，茶黄素性质不稳定、生物利用度低等原因，茶黄素生物学活性的作用机制尚未研究清晰。本文概述了茶黄素的多种生物学活性最新研究进展，以期为以茶黄素为原料的天然膳食补充剂及功能性食品的研究开发提供借鉴。

Progress in Research on the Bioactivity of Theaflavins

Theaflavin is a general name for a class of compounds with a benzodiazepine structure formed by the condensation of catechins, which is catalyzed by polyphenol oxidase, during the processing of black tea. Theaflavins are the determinant of the quality of black tea and have been reported to have a variety of biological functions. Theaflavins are called the “soft gold of tea” and have great potential and promising applications in the fields of foods, health products and natural medicine. Theaflavins are sought after by the consumer market because of their various special biological activities, which have attracted the growing interest of researchers in recent years. Numerous studies have shown that theaflavin has a variety of biological activities such as hypolipidemic, anti-tumor, blood glucose regulatory, and anti-aging activities. Their mechanism of action involves a wide range of signaling pathways, including nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt), and activating protein-1 (AP-1) signaling pathways, with multi-target, multi-link, multi-effect characteristics. However, the mechanism of action of theaflavins has not yet been clearly investigated due to the inaccessibility of high-purity theaflavins and theaflavin monomers, and the unstable nature and low bioavailability of theaflavins. Therefore, this paper outlines the latest progress in understanding the various biological activities of theaflavins, with the aim of providing a reference for the research and development of natural dietary supplements and functional foods using theaflavins as raw material.