Evaluation of the phenolic composition and bioactivities of plants from Asteraceae family

Abstract

Plants have been widely employed in traditional medicine, known as medicinal plants, and, currently, they play an important role in the design of modern drugs and healthy foods. Numerous studies have reported that the health-enhancing properties of medicinal plants (e.g., antioxidant, antimicrobial, antitumor, etc.) are a consequence of the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds, especially phenolic compounds. Nowadays, most medicinal plants are employed in shelf-care, usually consumed as herbal products, but their consumption is decreasing dramatically 1. The aim of this work was to evaluate the phenolic profile and the biological activities of two plants from Asteraceae family, Arnica montana and Taraxacum officinale, to valorize their use as a source of bioactive compounds for further industrial applications. Heat-assisted extraction was employed to obtain extracts rich in bioactive compounds, leading to the determination of phenolic profile and the evaluation of their associated in vitro bioactivities, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities. The results showed that A. montana extracts present a higher content of phenolic compounds compared to T. officinale, with values of 119 and 18 mg/mL of extract (MetOH/H2O), respectively. The results for the antioxidant activity of these extracts were similar for both species, according to ABTS, β-carotene-bleaching and TBARS assays. Moreover, A. montana showed the highest antibacterial and antifungal effects, with minimal bactericidal and fungicidal concentrations ranging between 0.25-0.5 mg/mL and 0.5-1 mg/mL, respectively. Finally, both plants displayed similar anti-inflammatory properties (106 and 111 µg/mL, respectively), while A. montana exerted cytotoxic effects against a wider range of tumor cell lines. These results suggest the possibility of obtaining new extracts with exceptional biological activities that may be of interest for the development of new products for the nutraceutical, cosmetic or pharmaceutical industries.