Benzoxazolinones: Novel Bioactive Phytochemicals in Wheat with Potential Hypoglycemic Activity

Abstract

Benzoxazolinones (BXs) are a group of natural compounds with biological activity. In recent years, benzoxazolinones have been identified in cereal grains and bakery foods. The most common BXs are 6-methoxy-benzoxazolin-2-one (MBOA) and 2-benzoxazolin-2-one (BOA). In this study, the contents of MBOA and BOA in 13varieties of wheat harvested in Henan Province were analyzed by LC-MS technology. Meanwhile, the inhibitory effects of MBOA and BOA on α-glucosidase and α-amylase were evaluated. The results showed that the contents of MBOA and BOA in wheat varied from 4.30 to 5.02 ng/g and 1.62 to 7.98 ng/g respectively. Interestingly, the contents of MBOA and BOA in whole wheat flour increased significantly after hot drying and germination by 1.5~2.0 and 500~1 000 times, respectively. In the aspect of hypoglycemic activity, MBOA and BOA showed reversible competitive inhibition on α-glucosidase and α-amylase. The IC50 of MBOA and BOA to α-glucosidase were 13.73 and 73.9 mg/mL, the IC50 to α-amylase were 64.98 and 17.68 mg/mL. These results revealed that BXs have the potential contribution to the hypoglycemic activity associated with whole wheat consumption. Food processing technologies such as germination can be used to enhance the concentration of BXs in the cereal food products that allow the intake of higher amounts of BXs. This study provides a new theoretical basis for the research on the health effects of whole wheat and its processed products.

Keywords

• mboa
• boa
• hypoglycemic activity
• α-glucosidase
• α-amylase
• germination