Evaluation of non-covalent interactions between serum albumin and green tea catechins by affinity capillary electrophoresis

• The first ACE method for studying the interaction between catechins and albumin is reported.
• The Kb of the 4 main green tea catechins for both Bovine and Human albumin is assessed.
• Affinity of catechins is 4 times higher for human albumin than bovine albumin.
• The method is simple, rapid and able to use small sample volumes.

The natural antioxidant-associated biological responses appear contradictory since biologically active dosages registered in vitro experiments are considerably higher if compared to concentrations found in vivo. The recent research indicates that natural antioxidants, including the major catechins of green tea epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechingallate (ECG) and epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) form non-covalent complexes with albumin, a crucial aspect that may modulate their plasma concentration, tissue delivery and biological activity. Affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE) was used to characterize the binding of the four catechins to human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) at near-physiological conditions: 10 mmol/L phosphate buffer, HEPES 50 mmol/L (pH 7.5), temperature 37 °C. The studied flavonoids displayed affinities toward the albumin with binding constants in the range 103−105 M−1, with a greater affinity of catechins toward HSA than BSA (between 3 and 3.5 fold higher). We also confirmed that catechins having a galloyl moiety (ECG and EGCG) have a higher binding affinity toward albumin than the catechins lacking the galloyl moiety (EC and EGC), and that for both albumins the order of affinity is EC < EGC < ECG < EGCG. We believe that our work can provide useful information for better understanding the intercurrent relationships between cathechins bioavailability and their elicited biological effects.