Polyphenols interaction with salivary proteins (SP) has been related with organoleptic features such as astringency. The aim of this work was to study the interaction between some human SP and tannins through two spectroscopic techniques, fluorescence quenching, and saturation transfer difference-nuclear magnetic resonance (STD-NMR). Generally, the results showed a significant interaction between SP and both condensed tannins and ellagitannins. Herein, STD-NMR proved to be a useful tool to map tannins' epitopes of binding, while fluorescence quenching allowed one to discriminate binding affinities. Ellagitannins showed the greatest binding constants values (KSV from 20.1 to 94.1 mM-1; KA from 0.7 to 8.3 mM-1) in comparison with procyanidins (KSV from 5.4 to 40.0 mM-1; KA from 1.1 to 2.7 mM-1). In fact, punicalagin was the tannin that demonstrated the highest affinity for all three SP. Regarding SP, P-B peptide was the one with higher affinity for ellagitannins. On the other hand, cystatins showed in general the lower KSV and KA values. In the case of condensed tannins, statherin was the SP with the highest affinity, contrasting with the other two SP. Altogether, these results are evidence that the distinct SP present in the oral cavity have different abilities to interact with food tannins class.
Keywords: STD-NMR; castalagin; ellagitannins; fluorescence quenching; procyanidins; punicalagin; vescalagin.