Bioactive compounds from Pu-erh tea with therapy for hyperlipidaemia

• The hypolipidaemic effects of Pu-erh tea are well documented now.
• Fraction 6 from EtOAc extract contained antihypolipidaemic ingredients.
• Seven compounds were isolated from the Fraction 6 and identified by MS and NMR.
• Sixty-four compounds were identified from the Fraction 6 using UPLC-MS/MS.
• Flavonoids are the bioactive compounds with therapy for hypolipidaemia in Pu-erh tea.

In this study, successive extractions of the Pu-erh tea were performed utilising water, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The different extracts were investigated for regulation of transcription factors involved in lipid metabolism including Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR), Liver X-activated Receptor (LXR), and the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor (PPARγ and PPARδ) using reporter gene assays. The data indicated that the ethyl acetate extract had the strongest activation potential for FXR and PPARδ, and Fraction 6 from the ethyl acetate extract obtained by column chromatography had the highest hypolipidaemic potential. Further chromatographic separation of Fraction 6 led to the isolation of 7 flavonoids, and their contents varied between 7.6 and 51.8 mg/g. Additionally, sixty-four chemical constituents were identified from Fraction 6 by UPLC-MS/MS and their relative amounts were determined by the ion intensity. These results showed that the flavonoids were the major bioactive compounds in Pu-erh tea responsible for its hypolipidaemic effects.