Orange thyme: Phytochemical profiling, in vitro bioactivities of extracts and potential health benefits

Amélia M Silva; Luís M Félix; Isabel Teixeira; Carlos Martins-Gomes; Judith Schäfer; Eliana B Souto; Dario J Santos; Mirko Bunzel; Fernando M Nunes

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100171

Orange thyme: Phytochemical profiling, in vitro bioactivities of extracts and potential health benefits

Food Chem X. 2021 Nov 25:12:100171. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100171. eCollection 2021 Dec 30.

Authors

Amélia M Silva^{1

2}, Luís M Félix², Isabel Teixeira¹, Carlos Martins-Gomes^{2

3}, Judith Schäfer⁴, Eliana B Souto^{5

6}, Dario J Santos^{1

2}, Mirko Bunzel³, Fernando M Nunes^{4

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology and Environment (DeBA-ECVA), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
² Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
³ Chemistry Research Center -Vila Real (CQ-VR), Food and Wine Chemistry Lab, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Food Chemistry and Phytochemistry - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Pólo das Ciências da Saúde, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal.
⁶ CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal Vila Real, Portugal.

Abstract

Orange thyme (Thymus fragrantissimus) is becoming widely used in food as a condiment and herbal tea, nevertheless its chemical composition and potential bioactivities are largely unknown. Thus the objective of this work is to obtain a detailed phytochemical profile of T. fragrantissimus by exhaustive ethanolic extraction and by aqueous decoction mimicking its consumption. Extracts showed high content in rosmarinic acid, luteolin-O-hexuronide and eriodictyol-O-hexuronide; these were the main phenolic compounds present in orange thyme accounting for 85% of the total phenolic compounds. Orange thyme extracts presented high scavenging activity against nitric oxide and superoxide radicals. Both extracts presented significant inhibitory effect of tyrosinase activity and moderate anti-acetylcholinesterase activity. Both extracts showed a good in vitro anti-inflammatory activity and a weak anti-proliferative/cytotoxic activity against Caco-2 and HepG2 cell lines supporting its safe use. Orange thyme is a very good source of bioactive compounds with potential use in different food and nutraceutical industries.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory activity; Anti-proliferative; Antioxidant activity; Apigenin (PubChem CID: 5280443); Aqueous extract; Eriodictyol (Pubchem CID 440735); Hydroethanolic extract; Luteolin (PubChem CID: 5280445); Orange thyme; Phenolic composition; Radical scavenging activities; Rosmarinic acid (PubChem CID: 5281792); Salvianolic acid I (Pubchem CID 10459878); Salvianolic acid K (Pubchem CID 10482829).