The study presents the effect of drying methods (traditional, convection, microwave, and freeze-drying) on the content and bioactivity (determined as antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiproliferative potential) of potentially bioavailable fractions of phenolic acids contained in lovage elicited with jasmonic acid (JA) and yeast extract (YE) and in untreated control leaves. The highest amount of syringic acid was recorded in the convectionally dried lovage samples, while ethanolic extracts from lyophilized lovage had the highest content of protocatechuic and caffeic acids. The drying method significantly influenced the tested properties only in some cases. The traditional drying resulted in lower antioxidant potential, while convectional drying caused a reduction of the lipoxygenase inhibition ability of the samples after simulated digestion. Samples containing the control and elicited lovage leaves dried with convectional and traditional methods exhibited the highest cytotoxicity against a prostate cancer epithelial cell line.
Keywords: anticancer properties; antioxidant activity; elicitation; lovage; phenolic acids; potential anti-inflammatory potential.