Extraction Technique Impacts on Phenolic Profile, Antioxidant Capacity, and Enzyme Inhibition by Anthemis pseudocotula

Abstract

Plant-derived phenolic and flavonoid compounds exhibit significant health benefits, encompassing antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities. We compared three extraction techniques-maceration (MAC-ME), Soxhlet extraction (SOE-ME), and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE-ME)-for their effectiveness in recovering bioactive compounds from Anthemis pseudocotula and assessed the resulting antioxidant and enzyme inhibition profiles. MAC-ME and UAE-ME produced higher total phenolic contents than SOE-ME, with MAC-ME achieving the greatest yield. In antioxidant assays, MAC-ME showed superior performance in the phosphomolybdenum and ferrous ion chelating tests. Conversely, UAE-ME delivered the strongest reducing power in the CUPRAC and FRAP assays, and both MAC-ME and UAE-ME outperformed SOE-ME in ABTS radical scavenging. Regarding enzyme inhibition, MAC-ME and UAE-ME exhibited more potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition than SOE-ME; SOE-ME was most effective against tyrosinase, whereas MAC-ME showed the highest alpha-amylase inhibition. Overall, MAC-ME proved the most effective for extracting phenolic and flavonoid compounds from A. pseudocotula, with UAE-ME also demonstrating notable antioxidant efficacy, underscoring the impact of extraction technique on bioactivity.