PHYTOCHEMICAL AND MINERAL COMPOSITION OFCAMELLIA SINESIS AND MATRICARIA CHAMOMILLATEA INFUSIONS AND THEIR EFFECT ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL MARKERS IN ALBINO RATS

Abstract

Tea and tea products have been in use for many years in the management of stress and stress related diseases. This need arises because synthetic drugs have shown various serious side effects. Therefore, a better approach is to employ natural substances with good biological activities and reduced side effects. Green tea and chamomile have been widely used in folk medicine as anti-stress, anti-inflammatory, cytostatic and in the treatment of cough, cold and gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this research work was to evaluate the antioxidant potentials, phenolic composition, anti-nutrients content, mineral bioavailability, neuro-protective effects of hot water infusions of three teas (Green tea, Chamomile tea and their composite hot water infusion). The study was also aimed at determining the effects of the tea samples on liver bio-markers and to conduct histological studies on specific tissues of male rats after pre-treatment with the tea samples. Phytochemical screening of green tea (GT), chamomile tea (C) and their composite blend (GT+C) showed the presence of flavonoids, anthraquinones, tannins, steroids, glycosides and terpenoids in the teas. Phenolic estimation of the tea infusions using HPLC-DAD showed the presence of flavonoids (catechin, kaempfrol, apigenin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, rutin, quercetin and luteolin), hydroxycinnamic acids (caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid) and phenolic acid (gallic acid) in the studied tea samples. Both tea samples showed good antioxidant activites with GT having the highesttotal phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content TFC, (844.97 mg/g and 180.39 mg/g respectively). Similarly, a higher reducing ability (9.24 mg/g AAE), hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (73.03%), DPPH radical scavenging activity (92.04%), nitric oxide radical scavenging activity (39.09%) and ABTS radical scavenging activity (262500 μmol/g) was also recorded for Green tea. The studied tea infusions reduced lipid peroxidation in a dose dependent manner with GT+C having the highest inhibitory action in brain, while C had the highest inhibitory action in the liver. The result of the neuroprotective potential of the studied tea infusions revealed that GT possessed the highest acetycholinesterase inhibitory activity (72.21%), while GT+C revealed the highest butyrylcholinesterase and nitrite inhibitory activities of 51.57% and 66.71% respectively. The mineral evaluation results showed that K was the most abundant mineral, followed by Ca and Na, while toxic metals such as Ni, Cu, Zn, Fe, Cr and Mn were completely absent. The result of the effect of GT, C and GT+C on liver markers such as ALT, AST, LDH, GGT, ALP, TP, ALB, T.BIL and GLU revealed that the tea samples do not have damaging effect on the liver. Similarly, histological studies also revealed no damaging effects on the liver. Therefore, the studied tea could be harnessed as functional food which can be employed in the management of stress and stress related diseases