Study On The Antioxidants Of Bee Pollen Lipid

Bee pollen is one of the most nutritious natural food resources, it contains proteins, lipids,carbohydrates, minerals and flavonoids, and has various physiological functions such asanti-aging, anti-tumor, treatment of prostate disease and anti-oxidant. There are vitamin E,carotenoids and other anti-oxidants in the lipid of bee pollen, however, there is less systematicstudy on the anti-oxidant of bee pollen lipid. In this paper, Motherwort, Rose, Rape, Corn,Buckwheat and Fructus Schisandra bee pollen were used as raw materials. Bee pollen lipid wasextracted from them, their anti-oxidant activity were evaluated, and the composition ofphospholipids, vitamin E and carotenoids were determinated; then the relation betweenanti-oxidation activity of bee pollen lipid and contents of phospholipids, vitamin E andcarotenoids were preliminary studied. The main content and results were as follows:1. Motherwort, Rose, Rape, Corn, Buckwheat, and Fructus Schisandrae bee pollen lipidwere extracted by solvent method and the anti-oxidant activity of them were evaluated by DPPHradical scavenging method, ABTS radical scavenging method and phosphomolybdenum method,with α-tocopherol as the positive control. Results indicated that six kinds of bee pollen lipid hadstrong scavenging effect on ABTS and DPPH free radicals with IC₅0values from0.06to7.57mg/mL and0.03to1.32mg/mL respectively. With phosphormolybdenum method, diffeentanti-oxidant activities were showed. Fructus Schisandrae bee pollen lipid was with the strongesttotal anti-oxidant activity, followed by Rose, Rape, Corn, Motherwort, Buckwheat bee pollen oil.Therefore, bee pollen lilpid is a potential natural anti-oxidant resources for its ability ofscavenging free radical with supply of hydrogen or electrons.2. The phospholipids and vitamin E in bee pollen were quantitatively determined by HPLC,and the content of carotenoids was also determined by spectrophotometric method; then therelation between anti-oxidation activity of bee pollen lipid and contents of phospholipids,vitamin E and carotenoids were preliminary researched. The results indicated that the totalphospholipids content in six bee pollens were from0.94to3.98g/100g, which accounted for9.15to38.11%of the lipid. Phosphatidylchuline （PC） was the predominant phospholipids in beepollen, representing43.54%to61.15%of total phospholipids. And the content of total vitamin Ein six kinds of bee pollen was from2.36to15.10mg/100g, which accounted for0.03%to0.16%of the lipid. α-tocopherol was the predominant component in vitamin E, accounting for85.47%to94.04%of vitamin E. Then the total carotenoids content in six kinds of bee pollen was from0.94to49.23mg/100g, which accounted for0.01%to0.76%of the lipid. So in the six bee pollenthere was obvious difference between the content and compose of phospholipids, carotenoids and vitamin E. In addition, the linear relationship between the bee pollen lipid anti-oxidantactivity and the content of phospholipids and vitamin E was not obvious, but anti-oxidantactivity was linearly correlated with the content of carotenoids which may be the maincontributor to its anti-oxidant activity.Thus, it can be seen that the content of anti-oxidant component （phospholipids, vitamin Eand carotenoids） in various bee pollen were quite different, and so were the anti-oxidantactivities. The content of carotenoids in the Schisandrae bee pollen lipid was the greatest, and itsanti-oxidant activity was the best, quite same with the natural antioxidant α-tocopherol. Then theSchisandrae bee pollen lipid could be developed as the base of anti-oxidation products. Inaddition, the amount and kinds of phospholipids in Rape bee pollen were the most, in which thecontent and anti-oxidant activity of vitamin E were the highest. Therefore, Rape bee pollen is agood source of phospholipids and natural vitamin E, and can be developed as health food.