1) (Garcia-Conesa, Ostergaard, Kauppinen, & Williamson, 2001). In this paper, the activity of tannase on the extracts of green tea and yerba mate was investigated. The aim of this work was to study the potential antioxidant properties of extracts of green tea and yerba mate before and after an enzymatic reaction, catalysed by the

tannase, produced by Paecilomyces variotii ( Battestin, Pastore, & Macedo, 2005). The antiradical properties of these samples were assessed using the oxygen radical-absorbance capacity (ORAC) ( Cao, Sofic, & Prior, 1996) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays ( Benzie and Strain, 1996 and Bondet et al., 1997). To date, the ORAC assay RG7204 in vitro has been largely applied to the assessment of the free-radical scavenging capacity of human plasma, proteins, DNA, pure antioxidant compounds and antioxidant plant/food extracts ( Dávalos, Goméz-Cordovés, & Bartolomé, 2004). Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, 95%), epigallocatechin (EGC, 98%), 2,2′- azobis (2-methylpropionamidine) (97%), and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl were purchased

from Sigma–Aldrich (Steinheim, Germany). All other chemicals were purchased in the grade commercially available. The fluorescein was from ECIBRA, and the Trolox® (97%) was from ACROS Organics. The tannase from Paecilomyces variotii was obtained according to a previously VE-821 published procedure ( Battestin & Macedo, 2007). A 250 ml conical flask containing 5 g of wheat

bran, 5 g of coffee husk, 10 ml of distilled water and 10% tannic acid (w/w) (Ajinomoto OmniChem Division, Wetteren, Belgium) was used for the fermentation process. The culture medium (pH 5.7) Monoiodotyrosine was sterilised at 120 °C for 20 min. After sterilization, the flasks were inoculated with 2.5 ml (5.0 × 107 spores/ml) of the pre-inoculum suspension and incubated at 30 °C for 120 h. After fermentation, 80 ml of 20 mM acetate buffer at pH 5.0 was added and shaken at 200 rpm for 1 h. The solution was filtered and centrifuged at 9650g for 30 min at 4 °C (Beckman J2–21 centrifuge, Beckman-Coulter, Inc. Fullerton, CA, USA). The supernatant was then treated with solid ammonium sulphate (80% saturation) and stood overnight at 4 °C. The precipitate was collected by centrifugation (9650g for 30 min), resuspended in distilled water and dialysed against distilled water. The dialysed preparation was freeze-dried and used as crude tannase. The extraction of green tea (Camellia sinensis) and yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) (1 g) were performed with 20 ml of ethanol/water (50% v/v) and 20 ml of chloroform using a blender (Ultra-Turrax) for 5 min, according to the procedure described by De Freitas, Carvalho, and Mateus (2003).