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

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100171

. 2021 Nov 25:12:100171.

doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100171. eCollection 2021 Dec 30.

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

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.

PMID: 34901827
PMCID: PMC8639431
DOI: 10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100171

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

Amélia M Silva et al. Food Chem X. 2021.

. 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.

PMID: 34901827
PMCID: PMC8639431
DOI: 10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100171

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).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Chromatograms of (A) hydroethanolic (HE) and (B) aqueous decoction (AD) extracts obtained from orange thyme (*T. fragrantissimus*). For peak identification please refer to Table 2.

**Fig. 2**
Effect of orange thyme (*T. fragrantissimus*) aqueous decoction (AD) and hydroethanolic (HE) extracts on Caco-2 (A and B), HepG2 (C and D) and Raw 264.7 (E and F) cells, after 24 h or 48 h exposure, as indicated. (G) Values of IC₅₀ (half maximal inhibitory concentration) obtained for Caco-2, HepG2 and Raw 264.7 cells exposed orange thyme AD and HE extracts, as denoted. Results are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 4). Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between the control and sample concentrations at respective incubation time are denoted by an *, and those between exposure times, at the same concentration, are denoted by a #.

**Fig. 3**
Anti-inflammatory activity of orange thyme (*T. fragrantissimus*) extracts. (A) Inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) release by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells when induced by AD (left bars, white) and by HE (right bars, blue) extracts, expressed as percentage of control (see methods for details). (B) RAW 264.7 cells viability upon exposure to AD (white bars) and HE (blue bars) extracts (see methods for details). Results are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 4 independent assays).

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References

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1. Afonso A.F., Pereira O.R., Valega M., Silva A.M.S., Cardoso S.M. Metabolites and biological activities of Thymus zygis, Thymus pulegioides, and Thymus fragrantissimus grown under organic cultivation. Molecules. 2018;23(7):1514. - PMC - PubMed
1. Aljarah A.K., Hameed I.H. In vitro anti-diabetic properties of methanolic extract of thymus vulgaris using a-glucosidase and a-amylase inhibition assay and determination of its bioactive chemical compounds. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development. 2018;9(3):387–392.
1. Amirghofran Z., Karimi M.H. Cytotoxic activity of thymus vulgaris, achillea millefolium and thuja orientalis on different growing cell lines. The Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2001;15(3):149–154.
1. Andreani T., Kiill C.P., Souza A.L.R.d., Fangueiro J.F., Fernandes L., Doktorovová S.…Silva A.M. Surface engineering of silica nanoparticles for oral insulin delivery: Characterization and cell toxicity studies. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2014;123:916–923. - PubMed

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[1] Afonso A.F., Pereira O.R., Cardoso S.M. Health-promoting effects of thymus phenolic-rich extracts: Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antitumoral properties. Antioxidants. 2020;9(9):814. - PMC - PubMed

[2] Afonso A.F., Pereira O.R., Cardoso S.M. Health-promoting effects of thymus phenolic-rich extracts: Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antitumoral properties. Antioxidants. 2020;9(9):814. - PMC - PubMed

[3] Afonso A.F., Pereira O.R., Valega M., Silva A.M.S., Cardoso S.M. Metabolites and biological activities of Thymus zygis, Thymus pulegioides, and Thymus fragrantissimus grown under organic cultivation. Molecules. 2018;23(7):1514. - PMC - PubMed

[4] Afonso A.F., Pereira O.R., Valega M., Silva A.M.S., Cardoso S.M. Metabolites and biological activities of Thymus zygis, Thymus pulegioides, and Thymus fragrantissimus grown under organic cultivation. Molecules. 2018;23(7):1514. - PMC - PubMed

[5] Aljarah A.K., Hameed I.H. In vitro anti-diabetic properties of methanolic extract of thymus vulgaris using a-glucosidase and a-amylase inhibition assay and determination of its bioactive chemical compounds. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development. 2018;9(3):387–392.

[6] Aljarah A.K., Hameed I.H. In vitro anti-diabetic properties of methanolic extract of thymus vulgaris using a-glucosidase and a-amylase inhibition assay and determination of its bioactive chemical compounds. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development. 2018;9(3):387–392.

[7] Amirghofran Z., Karimi M.H. Cytotoxic activity of thymus vulgaris, achillea millefolium and thuja orientalis on different growing cell lines. The Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2001;15(3):149–154.

[8] Amirghofran Z., Karimi M.H. Cytotoxic activity of thymus vulgaris, achillea millefolium and thuja orientalis on different growing cell lines. The Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2001;15(3):149–154.

[9] Andreani T., Kiill C.P., Souza A.L.R.d., Fangueiro J.F., Fernandes L., Doktorovová S.…Silva A.M. Surface engineering of silica nanoparticles for oral insulin delivery: Characterization and cell toxicity studies. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2014;123:916–923. - PubMed

[10] Andreani T., Kiill C.P., Souza A.L.R.d., Fangueiro J.F., Fernandes L., Doktorovová S.…Silva A.M. Surface engineering of silica nanoparticles for oral insulin delivery: Characterization and cell toxicity studies. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2014;123:916–923. - PubMed

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

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

Authors

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Conflict of interest statement

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