TY - JOUR
T1 - A review on the biological activity of camellia species
AU - Teixeira, Ana Margarida
AU - Sousa, Clara
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: A.M.T. thanks to REQUIMTE and to FCT/MCTES-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project UIDB/50006/2020 for the financial support. C.S. also thanks to FCT/MCTES-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project UID/Multi/50016/2019 for the financial support.
Funding Information:
Funding: The work was supported by UIDB/QUI/50006/2020 and UIDP/QUI/50006/2020 with funding from FCT/MCTES through national fund.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/4/9
Y1 - 2021/4/9
N2 - Medicinal plants have been used since antiquity to cure illnesses and injuries. In the last few decades, natural compounds extracted from plants have garnered the attention of scientists and the Camellia species are no exception. Several species and cultivars are widespread in Asia, namely in China, Japan, Vietnam and India, being also identified in western countries like Portugal. Tea and oil are the most valuable and appreciated Camellia subproducts extracted from Camellia sinensis and Camellia oleifera, respectively. The economic impact of these species has boosted the search for additional information about the Camellia genus. Many studies can be found in the literature reporting the health benefits of several Camellia species, namely C. sinensis, C. oleifera and Camellia japonica. These species have been highlighted as possessing antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral) and antitumoral activity and as being a huge source of polyphenols such as the catechins. Particularly, epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), and specially epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenols of green tea. This paper presents a detailed review of Camellia species' antioxidant properties and biological activity.
AB - Medicinal plants have been used since antiquity to cure illnesses and injuries. In the last few decades, natural compounds extracted from plants have garnered the attention of scientists and the Camellia species are no exception. Several species and cultivars are widespread in Asia, namely in China, Japan, Vietnam and India, being also identified in western countries like Portugal. Tea and oil are the most valuable and appreciated Camellia subproducts extracted from Camellia sinensis and Camellia oleifera, respectively. The economic impact of these species has boosted the search for additional information about the Camellia genus. Many studies can be found in the literature reporting the health benefits of several Camellia species, namely C. sinensis, C. oleifera and Camellia japonica. These species have been highlighted as possessing antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral) and antitumoral activity and as being a huge source of polyphenols such as the catechins. Particularly, epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), and specially epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenols of green tea. This paper presents a detailed review of Camellia species' antioxidant properties and biological activity.
KW - ABTS
KW - Antifungal
KW - Antimicrobial
KW - Antitumor
KW - Flavonoids
KW - Phenolics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105224334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/molecules26082178
DO - 10.3390/molecules26082178
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33918918
SN - 1420-3049
VL - 26
JO - Molecules
JF - Molecules
IS - 8
M1 - 2178
ER -