Associations between caseinophosphopeptides and theaflavin-3,3′-digallate and their impact on cellular antioxidant activity

Caseinophosphopeptides (CPPs) are a group of bioactive polypeptides hydrolyzed from caseins. Theaflavin-3,3′-digallate (TF-3) is a characteristic biofunctional polyphenol in black tea. In the present study, the interactions between CPPs and TF-3 were systematically investigated with fluorescence quenching, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), circular dichroism (CD), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Both fluorescence quenching and QCM-D studies demonstrated that TF-3 interacted with CPPs primarily through hydrogen bonding. Other forces were also involved. The addition of TF-3 did not change the secondary structures and the radius of gyration of CPPs, but it induced the aggregation of CPPs. The size of the aggregates increased with the concentration of TF-3. The impact of the association between TF-3 and CPPs on the antioxidant activity of TF-3 was studied by the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay, which revealed that the cellular antioxidant activity of TF-3 was enhanced after binding to CPPs.