In vitro simulated gastro-intestinal digestion of anthocyanins from mulberry (Morus atropurpurea Roxb.) was
investigated in terms of bioaccessibility, antioxidant activity and the possible fate of anthocyanins in
this study. Mulberry anthocyanins were isolated by aqueous two-phase system and purified by Sephadex
LH-20 column separation, and Fraction 1 containing cyanidin-3-glycoside and cyanidin-3-rutinoside
was obtained as the dominant fraction. The bioaccessibility of anthocyanins was greatly decreased after
the intestinal digestion, the recoveries were only 0.34% (the IN sample) and 4.58% (the OUT sample),
respectively. The radical scavenging ability showed that the digest have good antioxidant activity
responsible for the phenolics generated from degradation of anthocyanins under intestinal environment.
18 phenolics were identified in the gastric–intestinal digest of Fraction 1 by HPLC–ESI-MS/MS, mainly small
molecular flavonoids, phenolic acids and their derivatives. This study provided a scientific basis for further
pharmacological activity of anthocyanins and their mechanisms of metabolic pathway research