Antioxidative effects of a processed grain food.

Antioxidant biofactor: AOB is a unique processed grain food. It is a yellow-green powder. It contains the following extracts: germ extracts, soybean, rice bran, tear grass, sesame, wheat, citron, green tea, green leaf extract, and malted rice. These materials were slowly roasted under a powdered oure at less than 60 degrees C and fermented with Aspergillus oryzae over 3 days to transform each ingredient into low molecular weight substances. These conditions were different by each material, environmental humidity and temperature. It probably contains a variety of substances having antioxidant activity including flavonoids, alpha-tocopherol, vitamin C, and tannins. We investigated its antioxidative properties using electron spin resonance (ESR) and autoxidation of rat brain homogenates. The superoxide, hydroxyl radical, and the stable free radical, diphenyl-p-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of AOB was investigated using ESR spectrometry. In an in vitro study, a suspension of AOB was added directly to a superoxide generating system (hypoxanthine-xanthine oxidase; HX/XO) and investigated using 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO) as a spin trapping agent. At final concentrations of 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 mg/ml, AOB dose-dependent scavenging activity was observed as 0.103, 0.619, and 1.369 U/ml, respectively. A concentration of 1.0 mg/ml completely scavenged DMPO-OOH signals; 1.0 mg/ml of AOB inhibited the DMPO-OH signal generated by Fenton's reaction, but its inhibitory effect was not competitive, and was inhibition of the Fenton's reaction. 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 mg/ml of AOB were significantly inhibited the DPPH radical. In an in vivo study, rats were fed AOB orally at doses of 1 or 5 g/day for 24 h or for 3 days and the superoxide scavenging activity was measured in plasma. With the administration of 1 g/day for 3 days, the superoxide scavenging activity was about 1.8 times that of the control group fed a basal diet; 1.5 times the control with 5 g/day for 1 day, and 2.6 times the control with 5 g/day for 3 days, all of which represented significant increases in superoxide scavenging activity. AOB strongly inhibited the autoxidation of rat brain homogenates in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. However, each ingredient before roast and fermentation little inhibited lipid peroxidation. Roasting and fermentation with A. oryzae way be important to transform each ingredient into low molecular weight substances. Therefore, it was suggested that AOB possesses strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities.