Phenolic profiling and in vitro biological activities of different Asteraceae medicinal plants

Abstract

The family Asteraceae constitutes a plant family that contains a wide range of medicinal plants, especially in Galicia (NW Spain), where some species have been used in traditional medicine. In this work, five Asteraceae species were selected to develop their phenolic profiling and determine their associated bioactivities, namely Achillea millefolium L. (AM), Arnica montana L. (AR), Chamaemelum nobile L. (CN), Calendula officinalis L. (CO), and Taraxacum officinale L. (TO). Dried materials from the five species were subjected to heat-assisted extraction using 60% (v/v) methanol as solvent. Extracts were then subjected to the identification of phenolic compounds by UPLC-DAD/LTQ-MS. Afterwards, the determination of associated bioactivities, according to different in vitro assays, was performed. The phenolic profiling indicates that Asteraceae plants contain mostly phenolic acids and flavonoids, mainly represented by caffeic acid derivatives and flavonol glycosides, respectively. AR extracts exhibited the highest concentrations of phenolic acids (110.9 ± 0.4 mg g-1 extract) and total phenolic compounds (119 ± 1 mg g-1 extract). With respect to antioxidant activity, AR consequently presented the highest values in terms of free-radical scavenging activity and inhibition of oxidative hemolysis, whereas AM showed the highest values for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation. Moreover, CO extracts showed a high effectiveness against Gram positive bacteria and fungi, mostly due to its high 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid concentration. Finally, CN extracts reported the highest anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities, towards different cancer cell lines. Overall, this study shed light about the chemical characterization of the Asteraceae family, providing insight about the biological properties associated with their therapeutic effects, enabling their exploitation as natural sources of bioactive compounds.