Effects of Matcha Powder on The Activity of Glycogen Phosphorylase b

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Chi Dung Luu

Abstract or Description

Glycogen phosphorylase b (GPb) plays a vital role in glycogenolysis, breaking down glycogen to glucose as an energy source. Moreover, GPb have multiple allosteric sites where various effectors could bind. Determining the activity of GPb with effectors is important in understanding how GPb is regulated, and can be used to develop new therapeutics. For instance, caffeine (in coffee) is known to be an inhibitor of GPb. Matcha powder also contains caffeine and recently is gaining popularity due to its supposedly additional antioxidants which pure caffeine does not possess. Therefore, I wanted to test the effect of matcha powder on GPb. This experiment utilized the activity of GPb in glycogenolysis by measuring the absorbance of inorganic phosphate since every glucose added to glycogen is equal to every inorganic phosphate released. Based on my results, matcha powder is an inhibitor of GPb. This indicates a similar effect between matcha powder and coffee; however, consuming matcha powder might be more beneficial because of additional antioxidants in matcha than in regular coffee.

Mentor

Roberto N. De Guzman