Abstract
<p><em>Vaccinium myrtillus </em>L. (bilberry, Ericaceae), a perennial, wild, and small deciduous shrub that grows in the mountains and forests of Europe. The leaf extracts are widely used in traditional medicine due to their astringent, antiseptic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, and hypoglycemic activities. Microwave-assisted extraction provides various benefits, including reducing solvent consumption and extraction time and increasing extraction yield. In the present study, bilberry extracts were prepared using dried leaves, pure ethanol, or an ethanol-water mixture, and different temperatures in a microwave reactor (60, 100, and 160 <sup>◦</sup>C). The extracts were examined in terms of total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity. The TPC of the 96% ethanol extracts rose with the increase of the extraction temperature; the extract obtained at 60 <sup>◦</sup>C (37.2 ± 0.5 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g of plant material)<the extract at 100 <sup>◦</sup>C (46.6 ± 0.3 GAE/g)<the extract at 160 <sup>◦</sup>C (55.1 ± 0.5 mg/g). The TPC of the 50% ethanol extract prepared at 60 <sup>◦</sup>C was significantly lower (54.9 ± 1.0 mg GAE/g) in comparison to the extracts obtained at 100 and 160 ◦C (58.3 ± 1.0 and 58.0 ± 1.5 mg GAE/g, respectively). ABTS antioxidant capacity was higher in the 50% ethanol extracts compared to 96% ethanol parallels, while in the DPPH assay, there was no statistically significant difference between the 50 and 96% ethanol extracts. Due to higher TPC and anti-ABTS activity and reduced consumption of organic solvent, a 50% ethanol extract of <em>V. myrtillus </em>was favored, while the optimal temperature was 60 <sup><span style="background-color: var(--bs-body-bg); font-weight: var(--bs-body-font-weight); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">◦</span></sup><span style="background-color: var(--bs-body-bg); font-weight: var(--bs-body-font-weight); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">C for the extract </span><span style="background-color: var(--bs-body-bg); font-weight: var(--bs-body-font-weight); text-align: var(--bs-body-text-align);">with the highest antioxidant capacity and 100 <sup>◦</sup>C for the extract with the highest amount of polyphenols.</span></p>
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