Investigation of biological activities and chemical composition of Gundelia taxa growing in Anatolia

Species from the Gundelia genus are among the important main therapeutic herbs widely used in Middle Eastern nations' traditional medicine. The emphasis of the current investigation was on the bioactive phytochemicals and biopharmaceutical efficacy of all 22 species of Gundelia taxa worldwide. Herewith, ethanolic extracts of root, stem-leaf and flower parts of twenty two Gundelia species were prepared and their bioactive phytochemicals were quantified by a comprehensive and validated LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry) method. The results of the LC-MS/MS study revealed that, chlorogenic acit (0,042–93,52 mg/g extract), quinic acit (3,860–63,761 mg/g extract), kaempferol-3-O-glucoside (0,019–42,737 mg/g extract), luteolin-7-O-glucoside (cymaroside) (0,013–34,017 mg/g extract), quercetin-3-O-glucoside (0,021–24,241 mg/g extract), apigenin-7-O-glucoside (0,006–15,859 mg/g extract), 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acit (0,014–4,827 mg/g extract) and caffeic acit (0,020–4,082 mg/g extract) amounts were remarkable in the overall assessment of the quantification results. Furthermore, bioactivities of the studied extracts were determined by evaluating total phenolic-flavonoid contents and ABTS (cation radical scavenging activity), DPPH (free radical scavenging activity) and CUPRAC (cupric reducing antioxidant capacity) antioxidant test assays. With a few exceptions, all antioxidant test assays showed that the root ethanol extracts of the examined Gundelia species had stronger antioxidant activity than their flower and stem-leaf extract counterparts. Based on the results of the ABTS assay, it was discovered that the antioxidant capacities of root-ethanol extracts of G. purpurascens, G. dersim, G. armeniaca, G. armata, G. aragatsi, G. microcephala, G. tournefortii and G. tehranica (IC50 < 10 μg/mL) were at least as high as those of BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene) (IC50: 11,35 ± 0,22 μg/mL) and α-tocopherol (IC50: 9,23 ± 0,12 μg/mL), which were used as the reference compounds. To conclude, this is the first study in which the phytochemical contents and antioxidant activities of different parts of all Gundelia taxa in the world were determined together. Moreover, in this study, the phytochemical quantitation and bioactivity of G. microcephala, G. cappadocica, G. tehranica, G. aragatsi, and G. tenuisecta species were evaluated for the first time. Keywords: Gundelia species, bioactive phytochemicals, antioxidant, LC-MS/MS, food