Isolation of Epigallocatechin Gallate from Green Tea and its Effects on Probiotics and Pathogenic Bacteria

The aim of this study was to investigate epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) prebiotics activities systematically which was reported as a bioactive substance. Therefore, EGCG was separated by water extraction, resin purification and prep-HPLC. Then the production of EGCG was confirmed by HPLC and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis and its purify was 97.23%. EGCG extractive and green tea extract (GTE) were further incubated with Bifidobacterium infantis, B. adolescentis, B. bifidum and Lactobacillus acidophilus to study its effect on microbial populations and medium pH. Finally, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans were employed as pathogenic bacteria to explore the antimicrobial activity of EGCG and GTE. The results demonstrated that EGCG extractive could be beneficial for the proliferation of Bifidobacterium and L. acidophilus and also inhibit some pathogenic bacteria. In conclusion, both EGCG extractive and GTE had prebiotics activities and the effects of EGCG extractive were superior to those of GTE.