Phytochemical profiling, mineral elements, and biological activities of Artemisia campestris L. grown in Algeria

Abstract

Artemisia campestris L. is commonly used in folk medicine due to its antioxidant, antidiabetic, nutritional, and culinary properties. Our study assessed the total phenolics contents, antioxidant, and pharmacological activities of various organic extracts prepared from the aerial parts of Artemisia campestris, and its mineral elements and chemical profile were analyzed. ICP-OES was used to analyze the mineral profile and the LC-MS/MS analysis was used to characterize the phytochemical profiling. A series of antioxidant tests were carried out using DPPH, ABTS, beta-carotene, GOR, RP, CUPRAC, and O-Phenanthroline assays. In vitro potent inhibitory actions of A. campestris extracts were investigated to evaluate their anti-cholinesterase, anti-lipase and anti-diabetic activities. The photoprotective effect of the plant was measured by the sun protection factor. The most powerful inhibitor of α-amylase was AcPEE (IC50 = 11.79 ± 0.14 μg/mL), which also showed a significant butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory effect (IC50 = 93.50 ± 1.60 μg/mL). At IC50 = 23.16 ± 0.19 μg/mL, AcEAE showed the most powerful inhibitory effects on acetylcholinesterase. A. campestris was found to have a strong photoprotective ability, absorbing UV radiations with SPF values ranging from 26.07 ± 0.22 to 40.76 ± 0.11. The results showed that A. campestris extract has strong antioxidant activity in all the test samples except for the carotene bleaching assay. The LC/MS-MS results showed that AcDE, AcEAE, and AcBE identified 11 compounds belonging to Polyphenols Compounds. Our result also showed that A. campestris contains a high concentration of essential minerals, including macro-and micro-elements with their values close to the FAO’s recommended concentration. A. campestris has the capacity to improve pharmaceutical formulations, health, and medical research, due to its compositions and potent biological properties.