The influence of lemon thyme in the phenolic composition and bioactive properties of medicinal and aromatic plants tisanes
Conference Paper
Overview
Overview
abstract
Lemon thyme is used for cooking and normally consumed as an infusion, presenting
antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant potential[1]. However, the presence and
importance of this specie in tisanes of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) for infusion
preparation is little recognized. It is also known that mixtures of MAP show more favorable
phenolic composition and bioactive properties then the individual plants[2]. For that, the
present study aimed to characterize the phenolic composition by HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS of
three tisanes prepared from MAP mixtures containing lemon thyme, as also study their
bioactive properties, namely antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, and
anti-diabetic activities.
Thus, the tisane composed by lemon thyme, Shrubby St. John's Wort, cloves, and cinnamon,
was the most promising mixture, presenting the lowest EC50, GI50, and IC50 values for
theinhibition of the lipid peroxidation, anti-inflammatory/cytotoxicity against tumor cell line
ofadenocarcinoma breast, and antidiabetic activity, respectively. In addition, it also showed
thehighest concentration of phenolic acids (caffeoylquinic acids derivatives) and flavan-3-ols
(catechin derivatives). For the anti-hemolytic and antimicrobial activities (Gram-negative
bacteria), the mixture composed by lemon thyme, lavender, common thyme, and purple
perennial showed the lowest IC50 and MIC (higher bioactive potential) values, respectively.
Finally, the tisane containing lemon thyme, basil, peppermint, calendula, and rosemary
proved to be the best mixture to inhibit the growth of the tumor cell lines HepG2, NCI H460
and HeLa The results obtained reinforce the principle of synergy between mixtures of MAP,
making it possible to obtain promising sources of bioactive compounds with different
phenolic profiles with high added value that can be applied in the pharmaceutical and food
industry for the development of new functional products.
To Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme
PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019); the national funding by FCT,
P.I., through the institutional and individual scientific employment program-contract for L.
Barros/M.I. Dias and J. Pinela contract (CEECIND/01011/2018), respectively; to
FEDER-Interreg España-Portugal programme (TRANSCoLAB 0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_
2_P). To Cantinho das Aromáticas company (tisane supplier).
