Metabolite Profiling of Helichrysum italicum Derived Food Supplements by 1H-NMR-Based Metabolomics

Abstract

Helichrysum italicum is a medicinal plant from the Mediterranean area, widely used in traditional medicine for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant properties and for its preventive effects on microcirculation diseases. Due to these properties, it finds large applications in cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical fields. Additionally, hydroalcoholic extracts and mother tinctures based on H. italicum represent products with a high commercial value, widely distributed not only in drug stores but also on on-line markets. The different extraction procedures used can greatly affect the fingerprints of the extracts, resulting in a different qualitative or quantitative profile of the chemical constituents responsible for biological activity. The aim of the present study was to characterize the composition of bioactive compounds present in water-ethanol and glycerol extracts of H. italicum derived food supplements. Metabolite profiles of the extracts were obtained by 1H NMR experiments and data were processed by multivariate statistical analysis to highlight differences in the extracts and to evidence the extracts with the highest concentrations of bioactive metabolites. In detail, this work highlights how derived food supplements of H. italicum obtained using ethanol-water mixtures ranging from 45% to 20% of ethanol represent the products with the highest amount of both primary (amino acids) and secondary metabolites including 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid (9), chlorogenic acid (10), 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (11), and kaempferol 3-O-glucopyranoside (12). Moreover, it is evident that the use of an ethanol-water mixture 20:80 is the most suitable method to afford the highest number of phenolic compounds, while food-derived supplements obtained by glycerol extraction are characterized by a high amount of β-glucose and α-glucose and a low content of phenolic compounds.

Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activity of Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don. from Central Europe

“…Here, rosmarinic acid is an ester of caffeic and 3,4-dihydroxyphenyllactic acid, while chlorogenic, neochlorogenic, isochlorogenic b and cichoric acids are esters of caffeic and quinic acid, thus belong to caffeoylquinic acid isomers, as following: 3-caffeoylquinic; 5-O-caffeoylquinic; 3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinic and 2,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid. The domination of caffeic acids esters (so-called quinic acid esters) in H. italicum raw materials was demonstrated earlier by other authors [17,20,[48][49][50].…”

Valorisation, Green Extraction Development, and Metabolomic Analysis of Wild Artichoke By-Product Using Pressurised Liquid Extraction UPLC–HRMS and Multivariate Data Analysis

“…Multivariate data analysis is an imaging statistical technique that is useful to easily plot large datasets for several applications in scientific fields, like control and optimisation processes [ 38 ]. In the present study, the chemical metabolome of C. cardunculus leaves was defined by employing different eco-sustainable solvents in a pressurised liquid extraction system.…”

Profiling of Plant Derived Natural Constituents by Using Magnetic Resonance Techniques

“…e consumption of such foods containing these bioactive components can provide desirable health benefits beyond their natural properties when consumed in a consistent manner through diet. Alternatively, dietary supplements can be also supplied to consumers in a concentrated form to deliver a specific bioactive or a group of phytochemicals [4][5][6][7].…”