The noncovalent conjugations of human serum albumin (HSA) with MS/AK and the effect on anti-oxidant capacity as well as anti-glycation activity of Monascus yellow pigments.

Shufen Wu, Yue Sun, Di Chen, Huanhuan Liu, Zhenjing Li, Mianhua Chen, Changlu Wang, Lei Cheng, Qingbin Guo, Xin Peng

Food & function 2021 Apr 21

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Monascin (MS) and ankaflavin (AK), as typical yellow lipid-soluble pigments identified from Monascus-fermented products, have been confirmed to possess diverse biological activities such as anti-oxidation, reversing diabetes, and anti-atherosclerosis, and have received increasing attention in recent years. Certainly Monascus-fermented product with a high content of MS/AK is also a concern. The current work explored interactions between MS/AK and human serum albumin (HSA) as well as their influence on the anti-oxidant properties of MS/AK. Moreover, the anti-glycation potential of Monascus-fermented products rich in MS and AK (denoted as Mps) was assessed. The results showed that the fluorescence emission of HSA was quenched by MS/AK through a static quenching mechanism, and MS-HSA and AK-HSA complexes were mainly formed by van der Waals forces and hydrophobic interactions, but AK showed a higher binding affinity than MS. Although the DPPH radical-scavenging abilities of MS-HSA and AK-HSA complexes declined, Mps significantly reduced the formation of fructosamine, α-dicarbonyl compounds and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the in vitro glycation model (HSA-glucose). Notably, approximately 80% of fluorescent-AGEs were suppressed by Mps at a concentration of 0.95 mg mL-1, while aminoguanidine (AG, a reference standard) caused only 65% decrease at the same concentration. Although radical scavenging and metal chelating activities could justify the observed anti-glycation activity of Mps, in-depth research on the structures of other functional compounds present in Mps except MS/AK and reaction mechanisms should be performed. Overall, the present study proved that Mps would be promising sources of food-based anti-glycation agents because of their superior inhibitory effect on AGEs.

Citation

Shufen Wu, Yue Sun, Di Chen, Huanhuan Liu, Zhenjing Li, Mianhua Chen, Changlu Wang, Lei Cheng, Qingbin Guo, Xin Peng. The noncovalent conjugations of human serum albumin (HSA) with MS/AK and the effect on anti-oxidant capacity as well as anti-glycation activity of Monascus yellow pigments. Food & function. 2021 Apr 21;12(8):3692-3704