Wild and Micropropagated Artemisia eriantha Infusions: In Vitro Digestion Effects on Phenolic Pattern and Antioxidant Activity

Abstract

This study investigated the in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion (GID) effects on wild and micropropagated Apennines Genepì infusions. Wild and micropropagated infusions were compared for their antioxidant activity, phenolic contents, and polyphenolic profiles before and after GID. Before digestion, the wild infusions had higher amounts of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity than the micropropagated ones. Instead, after digestion, the differences in the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity between wild and micropropagated infusions were less pronounced. The changes in the TPC and phenolic profiles revealed the presence of several chemical transformations and rearrangements that resulted in compounds with different reactivity and antioxidant potential. Without enzyme actions, the wild infusion digest undergoes higher modifications than those obtained from the micropropagated ones. The current study offers the first concrete proof of the impact of GID on the polyphenolic chemicals present in infusions of wild and micropropagated Apennines Genepì and their antioxidant properties. Our findings are essential for future in-depth analyses of Apennine Genepì infusions and their potential impacts on human health.

Keywords: Apennines Genepì; GID; HPLC-DAD; antioxidants; conservation; phytochemistry; plant science; polyphenols.

Figure 1

Stacked column chart of the phenolic compounds (%) of wild (WG) and micropropagated (MG) infusions.

Figure 2

Stacked column chart of the variation percentages recorded for phenolic compounds of the wild (WG) and micropropagated (MG) infusions. D, digested; U, undigested; C, control (digestion without enzyme). On the left-hand side of the axis (−400–0%), the decreases in phenolic compounds in the stacked columns are presented. On the right-hand side (0–1600%), increases in the stacked columns are presented.

Figure 3

Total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (FRAP, ABTS, and DPPH) variation percentages of undigested (U), control (C, without enzymes), and digested (D) infusions of wild (WG) and micropropagated Genepì (MP) infusions. On the left-hand side of the axis (−300–0%), the decreases in antioxidant activity in the stacked columns are presented. On the right-hand side (0–600%), increases in the stacked columns are presented.

Figure 4

Biplot obtained from the principal component analysis (PCA) of the HPLC-DAD characterisation results. In the figure, MG, micropropagated Genepì; WG, wild Genepì; suffixes u and d refer to undigested and digested samples, respectively; TOT, total concentration of the investigated polyphenolic compounds.

Figure 5

Dissimilarity dendrogram obtained from agglomerative hierarchical clustering of the HPLC-DAD characterisation results. The dash line represents the automatic truncation, leading to two clusters (the first cluster in red and the second in orange).