Chemical Characterization and Bioactivity of Extracts from Thymus mastichina: A Thymus with a Distinct Salvianolic Acid Composition - PubMed (original) (raw)

Chemical Characterization and Bioactivity of Extracts from Thymus mastichina: A Thymus with a Distinct Salvianolic Acid Composition

Meriem Taghouti et al. Antioxidants (Basel). 2019.

Abstract

Thymus mastichina, also called mastic thyme or Spanish marjoram, is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, where it is widely used in folk medicine especially for treating digestive and respiratory systems disorders, and as a condiment to season olives. This work describes for the first time the detailed phenolic composition of exhaustive hydroethanolic extracts and aqueous decoctions of T hymus mastichina. Unlike other species of the Thymus genera, T hymus mastichina extracts contain high amounts of salvianolic acid derivatives, with salvianolic acid A isomer being the main derivative. This isomer was identified in extracts from T hymus mastichina for the first time. Also, an undescribed salvianolic acid derivative in T hymus mastichina was identified and its structure was tentatively described. Extracts from T hymus mastichina showed significant scavenging activity of 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical cation, hydroxyl, and nitric oxide radicals. The anti-proliferative effect of both T. mastichina extracts were tested against Caco-2 and HepG2 cells; the hydroethanolic extract showed a high anti-proliferative activity against Caco-2 cells compared to HepG2 cells (at 24 h exposure, the concentration that inhibits 50% of proliferation, IC50, was 71.18 ± 1.05 µg/mL and 264.60 ± 11.78 µg/mL for Caco-2 and HepG2, respectively). Thus, these results make this species a promising candidate for further investigation of its anti-tumoral potential. Therefore, T hymus mastichina can be potentially used as a functional food (used as a decoction or herbal tea) or as a source of bioactive ingredients with antioxidant and anti-proliferative properties.

Keywords: Thymus mastichina; anti-proliferative activity; antioxidant; aqueous decoction; hydroethanolic extract; phenolic profiling; radical scavenging activity; salvianolic acid A isomer; salvianolic acid isomer B/E isomer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Phenolic profile of Thymus mastichina. HPLC-DAD chromatogram of hydroethanolic extract. For peak identification, please refer to Table 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2

ESI-MS2 (m/z = 717) (A) and UV-VIS (B) spectra of salvianolic acid B/E isomer 2, UV-VIS spectrum of salvianolic acid B standard (C) and fragmentation of salvianolic acids B and E with two possible structures, and respective fragmentation, of salvianolic acid B/E isomer 2 (D).

Figure 3

Figure 3

Anti-proliferative effect of T. mastichina extracts against Caco-2 (A,B) and HepG2 (C,D) cells. Effect of aqueous decoction (A,C) and hydroethanolic (B,D) extracts of T. mastichina after 24 or 48 h of exposure (as denoted). Results are expressed as (mean ± SD, n = 4. (*) denotes significant differences, p < 0.05. The calculated IC50 values for Caco-2 and HepG2 cells exposed to both extracts are shown in (E). Abbreviation: AD, aqueous decoction; HE, hydroethanolic extract; Sig., significant; n.s., not significant.

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