Interactions between apple polyphenols and salivary proteins

This recently published work involving the PRP team is the result of a study carried out in collaboration with the Bioactivity and Nutrition team at UMR STLO. In addition to confirming the involvement of procyanidins and proline-rich proteins in the formation of insoluble complexes, the results also show the formation of complexes with other specific proteins (zinc binding proteins) with higher molecular weights. In vitro gastric digestion leads to strong proteolysis and the peptides formed still seem to be able to interact with certain procyanidins. Saliva could therefore modulate the bioavailability of procyanidins in the gastric compartment.