RADICAL SCAVENGING ACTIVITY AND ANTIMUTAGENICITY OF PROANTHOCYANIDINSFROM BARLEY BRAN

The purpose of this investigation was to clarify the properties of ant ioxidative activity and antimutagenicity in vitro of proanthocyanidins (dimer and trimer) from barley bran in comparison with catechins. Rad ical scavenging activities to superoxide and DPPPI radical of the prod elphinidins were found to be higher than those of the procyanidins, an d almost the same as those of (-) -epigallocatechin ((-)-EGC) and (-)- epigallocatechin gallate ((-)-EGCG). The prodelphinidins from barley b ran showed more effective antimutagenicity to MNNG and Trp-p-1 than th at of the procyanidins, and showed the same or less effectiveness than those of (-)-EGCG and (-)-EGC. These results suggested that the B-rin gs with three hydroxyl groups (pyrogallol-type) such as prodelphinidin s, (-)-EGC, and (-)-EGCG were more effective to antioxidative activity and antimutagenicity than the B-rings with two hydroxyl groups (catec hol-type) such as procyanidins, (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, and (-) -epicatechin gallate.