Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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INVESTIGATION OF PHYTOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF DIFFERENT EXTRACTS AND GYROPHORIC ACID DERIVED FROM THE LICHEN UMBILICARIA GRISEA GROWING IN SERBIA

MIROSLAV SOVRLIĆ 1,2*, NEDELJKO MANOJLOVIĆ 1, MARIJANA KOSANIĆ 3, ALEKSANDAR KOČOVIĆ 1,4, JOVICA TOMOVIĆ 1,2, PERICA VASILJEVIĆ 5

1 University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, Svetozara Markovića 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
2 Center for Harm Reduction of Biological and Chemical Hazards, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 69 Svetozar Markovic Street, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
3 University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Radoja Domanovića 12, 34111 Kragujevac, Serbia
4 Center of Excellence for Redox Balance Research in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders, Svetozara Makovica 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
5 University of Niš, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Biology and Ecology, Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia

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This study investigates the chemical composition, total phenolic and flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of acetone, methanol and ethanolic extracts of the poorly researched lichen Umbilicaria grisea and its major secondary metabolite, gyrophoric acid. The phytochemical composition was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-UV). In addition to gyrophoric, lecanoric and umbilicaric acid, the examined extracts also contain depsidone norstictic acid and depside atranorin, which were identified for the first time in this species. The study assessed the phenolic and flavonoid content of different solvent extracts from U. grisea, revealing that the methanolic extract exhibited the highest phenolic content (67.128 ± 0.222 mg GAE/g Dry Extract), followed by acetonic (56.615 ± 0.385) and ethanol (44.821 ± 0.801) extracts. Total flavonoid content, expressed as rutin and quercetin equivalents, varied significantly among extracts, with acetone demonstrating the highest efficiency for flavonoid extraction from U. grisea. The antioxidant activity of tested extracts was estimated spectrophotometrically by determining the ability to scavenge DPPH and ABTS radicals. The acetone extract showed slightly enhanceds antioxidant activity compared to the other two extracts in both tests. Also, gyrophoric acid shows significantly better antioxidant activity compared to all extracts, but weaker compared to ascorbic acid and Trolox. These findings indicate the potential of extracts from U. grisea as sources of natural antioxidants.