Abstract
Thymus marschallianus Willd. is a Lamiaceae species spread in a large variety of habitats worldwide. The aim of the present research was to analyse two different samples belonging to this species, one obtained from the spontaneous flora and one from culture. The total polyphenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acid contents were spectrophotometrically determined. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of polyphenols was performed by an HPLC-DAD-ESI (+)-MS method. For the antibacterial assay, the well-diffusion and the broth microdilution methods were used. Analysis of polyphenols revealed for both samples the presence of flavonoids like luteolin, quercetin, apigenin and their derivatives, but also of rosmarinic acid and methyl-rosmarinate. Differences regarding the amount of these compounds were emphasized. Significantly larger amounts of flavonoids were found for the sample harvested in the spontaneous flora, while for the rosmarinic acid, larger amounts were found for the cultured sample. Both samples displayed promising antibacterial activity, particularly towards Gram positive organisms. T. marschallianus represents, therefore, a rich source of polyphenolic compounds that prove its promising potential as a medicinal species.
Highlights
The Lamiaceae family is one of the largest plant families worldwide, comprising more than 700 species, included in over 230 genera, which can be found in a large number of habitats
A HPLC-DAD-ESI (+)-MS method was carried out for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the polyphenolic compounds from T. marschallianus samples harvested from culture (TMc) and in spontaneous flora (TMs) [20,21,22]
Thymus marschallianus is a species that has created a lot of taxonomy confusions among botanists and, as its separate identity becomes clearer, it appears important to study its chemical composition and biological activities
Summary
The Lamiaceae family is one of the largest plant families worldwide, comprising more than 700 species, included in over 230 genera, which can be found in a large number of habitats. It is one of the flowering plant families that presents the largest number of species with medicinal properties [1,2]. Among the species of this family, Thymus genus is one of the most important and taxonomically complex genera, comprising over 300 species worldwide, distributed from Europe to Asia, North Africa, and the Canary Islands [3], the vast majority of these species being found in the Mediterranean areas and in the surroundings [4]. Difficulties in taxonomical interpretation regard especially the section Serpyllum, which appears to be the oldest and the one that is the richest in number of species, comprising more than 150 species [7]
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