K. Shanmugapriya, D. Nityanandi, P. S. Saravana
Background: White tea is the mildest tea made from new young leaves of the tea plant Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze belonging to the family Theaceae. Objective: To compare the efficacy for phytochemical, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of methanol and acetone extracts of White tea. Methodology: The methanolic and acetone extracts of the white tea leaves were screened for all pharmacological activities. The four bacterial strains and one fungal species were investigated for antimicrobial activity of white tea. Phytochemical screening, Nonenzymatic and enzymatic antioxidant activity was analysed by standard methods. The prevention of hypotonicity induced HRBC membrane lysis was taken a measure of anti-inflammatory activity. The compounds were identified by GC-MS analysis. Results: The methanolic extracts showed higher activity against four of the bacterial organisms and one fungus than acetone extracts. The methanolic extract of white tea has a high level of total phenolic content and reducing power than acetone extracts. Antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts of white tea was higher than acetone extracts for all methods expect by Ferric reducing antioxidant power methods. It showed anti-inflammatory activity in terms of percent prevention of lysis of 40% and 38% for 100μl of methanolic and acetone extracts. The compounds present in both extracts were identified using GC-MS analysis. Conclusions: The results of the present study indicate compounds isolated from methanolic and acetone extracts of White tea possesses pharmacological properties. Therefore, they could be used as natural potential compounds of natural origin for pharmaceuticals plant-based products industry.
