The free, esterified, and insoluble-bound phenolic profiles of Rhus chinensis Mill. fruits and their pancreatic lipase inhibitory activities with molecular docking analysis

Abstract

This study investigated the free, esterified, and insoluble-bound phenolics in Rhus chinensis Mill. fruits and their pancreatic lipase inhibitory activities with molecular docking analysis. Results showed that the free phenolic fraction displayed the highest total phenolic content and the strongest lipase inhibitory activity. A total of 12, 11, and 8 free, esterified, and insoluble-bound phenolics were identified and quantified, respectively. Myricitrin and quercitrin were the major phenolics in all fractions with good dose-dependent lipase inhibitory effects, and myricitrin had a stronger inhibitory effect. Molecular docking analysis showed that myricitrin bound more tightly than quercitrin to the lipase with more number and shorter distance of hydrogen bonds, which indicated myricitrin had stronger lipase inhibitory activity and was consistent with their experimental results. The present study demonstrated that the free phenolics fraction of R. chinensis Mill. fruits had a strong lipase inhibitory activity, and can potentially prevent obesity-related problems.

Keywords

• Anti-obesity
• Hydrogen bond
• Lipase inhibitory mechanism
• Myricitrin
• Quercitrin
• UHPLC-ESI-HRMS/MS