Theacrine From Camellia kucha and Its Health Beneficial Effects

Abstract

Theacrine, i.e., 1,3,7,9-tetramethyluric acid, is one of the major purine alkaloids found in leaf of a wild tea plant species Camellia kucha Hung T. Chang. Theacrine has been attracted great attentions academically owing to its diverse health benefits. Present review examines the advances in the research on the health beneficial effects of theacrine, including antioxidant effect, anti-inflammatory effect, locomotor activation and reducing fatigue effects, improving cognitive effect, hypnotic effect, ameliorating lipid metabolism and inhibiting breast cancer cell metastasis effect. The inconsistent results in this research field and further expectations were also discussed.

Keywords: Camellia sinensis; anti-inflammation; antioxidant; cognition; hypnosis; lipid metabolism; locomotor; metastasis.

Figure 1

Molecular structure of theacrine.

Figure 2

Theacrine is biosynthesized from caffeine catalyzed by N-methyltransferase using SAM as methyl donor. SAM, S-adenosyl-L-methionine; SAH, S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine.

Figure 3

Bioactivities of theacrine. The end of each direction shows one bioactivity of theacrine, in which the intermediates show the actions of theacrine or signaling pathways. CAT, Catalase; EMT, Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; FOXO3, Forkhead Box O3, a protein coding gene, including DNA-binding transcription factor activity and protein kinase binding; GSH-Px, Glutathione peroxidase; IL-6, interleukin-6; LCAD, Lightweight chemical agent detector; NF-kB, Nuclear factor-kb; ORAC, oxygen radical absorbance capacity; PD, Parkinson's disease; p-ERK, phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinases; p-p38 MARK, phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinases; MDA, malondialdehyde; SIRT3, Sirtuin-3, a major mitochondria NAD⁺-dependent deacetylase; SMAD, the proteins are required for the transmission of the TGF-β signal to the nucleus; SOD, Superoxide dismutase; TGF-β, Transforming growth factor-β. The red up arrow means increase in the indicators and the blue down arrow means decrease in the indicators.