Abstract
Centella asiatica L. Urban (CA) is a valuable medicinal herb that contains various bioactive secondary metabolites. In the present study, the harvested CA was divided into whole plant and leaf parts, and were heated-air-dried or freeze-dried. The dried CA was extracted under various extraction conditions to obtain 16 extracts, and their antioxidant activities were examined. Twelve types of secondary metabolites (five polyphenolic acids, four triterpenoids, and three flavonoids) were quantified in each extract. Finally, the intercorrelations between secondary metabolites and antioxidant activities were analyzed through statistical analyses, such as Pearson correlation coefficient, scatter plotting, and principal component analysis. The antioxidant capacities of CA might be primarily influenced by major triterpenoids such as madecassoside and asiaticoside, which showed high content in the ethanol extracts of freeze-dried leaf parts. The present study provides a valuable groundwork for the development of optimal extraction processes for C. asiatica L. as an antioxidant material.
Highlights
Previous studies have reported a total of 57 secondary metabolites in Centella asiatica L. Urban (CA), which are classified into four major clusters: triterpenoids, volatile mono and sesquiterpenes, flavonoids, Shin et al Applied Biological Chemistry (2021) 64:82 and other compounds [10,11,12]
Yields of various C. asiatica extracts In the present study, 16 extracts were prepared from C. asiatica, depending on the postharvest drying methods, plant parts, and extraction conditions
The highest yield was observed in 50% EtOH extract (HD-L-50E; 37.3%) prepared from the heated-air-dried leaf parts, whereas the lowest yields were observed in cold-water extracts (FD-L-CW, 23.3% and freeze drying (FD)-W-CW, 22.7%) prepared from freeze-dried leaf parts and whole plant
Summary
Our result indicate that both TPC and TFC were higher in freeze-dried extracts than that of heated-air-dried extracts, which is similar to the previous study reported by Mao et al [23] who investigated the effect of both drying methods on the phenolic compounds of daylily flower extracts. The present study is the first to establish the relationship between antioxidant activity and secondary metabolite contents and various extracts of CA depending on the drying methods, plant parts, and extraction conditions.
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