Ellagitannins as active constituents of medicinal plants.

Currently researching in Ellagitannins. Ellagitannins occur naturally in 46 different foods, but the highest natural content is found in red raspberries.

Isolation and structure determination, accompanied by measurement of various biological activities of each isolated tannin, particularly of ellagitannins, have brought about a marked change in the concept of tannins as active constituents of medicinal plants. Their biological activities should now be discussed on the basis of the structural differences among each tannin, in a way similar to that of the other types of natural organic compounds.

The inhibitory activity against lipid peroxidation, which is different in the strength among tannins of various structures, is exhibited in general more strongly by ellagitannins than by the other types of tannins of similar structures. The radical-scavenging activities of tannins as the mechanism of their inhibition, which is regarded to participate in several biological activities of tannins, have been supported by the ESR spectral measurements. Other biological activities, i.e., inhibition of mutagenicity of carcinogens, inhibition of tumor promotion, etc., have been found for tannins including ellagitannins.

PMID: 2664829 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Pomegranate Juice Supplementation to Atherosclerotic Mice Reduces Macrophage Lipid Peroxidation, Cellular Cholesterol Accumulation and Development of Atherosclerosis¹

Marielle Kaplan^*, Tony Hayek^*, Ayelet Raz^*, Raymond Coleman, Leslie Dornfeld^*, Jacob Vaya^** and Michael Aviram^*2

^* The Lipid Research Laboratory, the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, The Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences and Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, 31096, Israel and ^** Laboratory of Natural Compounds for Medical Use, Migal, Galilee Technological Center, Kyriat Shmona, 10200, Israel

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The soluble polyphenol content varies within the limits of 0.2-1.0%, depending on variety, and includes mainly anthocyanins, catechins, ellagic tannins, and gallic and ellagic acids (16, 17, 20). More importantly, PJ possesses potent antioxidant activity that elicits antiatherogenic properties in mice (20-22) and can inhibit cyclooxygenases and lipoxygenases (18).