表没食子儿茶素没食子酸酯(EGCG)是绿茶中的主要儿茶素,大量研究表明绿茶在治疗严重慢性疾病如心血管病、神经退行性病变、肿瘤、代谢综合征、2型糖尿病等方面发挥了积极的生物学作用。绿茶的这种保护性作用主要归因于EGCG强有力的抗氧化活性。EGCG的抗氧化作用机制主要包括清除自由基、金属螯合、抑制细胞信号转导通路、调节氧化和抗氧化酶系等。综述了其抗氧化机制的研究进展,以期为临床应用及开发相同或相似机制的药物提供理论依据。

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the main catechin in green tea. A large number of researches have revealed that green tea demonstrates a wide range of positive biological activities against serious chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. These protective properties can be traced back to the potent antioxidant activities of EGCG. Recent studies have suggested that EGCG may exert its anti-oxidant effects by scavenging free radicals, metal chelation, inhibition of transcription factor activation, and adjusting the oxidation and anti-oxidant enzyme system, etc. This paper summarizes the research progress on anti-oxidative mechanism of EGCG, in order to provide reference for exploiting drugs with same or similar mechanism of EGCG for clinical application.