ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1576852
Chemical profile of Rhododendron luteum Sweet leaf supercritical CO2 extracts and their anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic potential
Provisionally accepted
Lena Łyko1
Renata Nowak1*
Marta Olech1
Urszula Gawlik2
Agnieszka Krajewska3
Danuta Kalemba3Andriy Prokopiv4- 1Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland, Lublin, Poland
- 2Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, University of Life Sciences, Lublin, Poland, Lublin, Poland
- 3Institute of Natural Products and Cosmetics, Lodz University of Technology, Łódź, Poland, Łódź, Poland
- 4Department of Botany, Botanical Garden, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine
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Introduction: Terpenes are a diverse class of natural metabolites that exhibit a range of biological activities, including antidiabetic, antiproliferative, and anti-inflammatory effects. The present study was designed to determine the chemical profile and biological activity of Rhododendron luteum leaf (RLL) supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) extracts.The LC-APCI-MS/MS method was used to determine the composition and content of the triterpenes (including sterols). In turn, LC-ESI-MS/MS was applied for the analysis of polyphenolic compounds. The volatile composition of RLL extracts was analysed using the HS-SPME-GC-FID-MS technique. The inhibitory activity against enzymes such as xanthine oxidase (XO), lipoxygenase (LOX), hyaluronidase, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase was assessed using in vitro bioassays.The LC-MS analyses revealed high levels of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, and β-sitosterol, which belong to terpenes, as well as polyphenols such as syringic acid, ferulic acid, and p-coumaric acid, along with apigenin and its 7-glucoside. Among volatiles, the most prominent were limonene, eugenol, β-phenylethanol, and β-caryophyllene. In vitro assays showed a high hyaluronidase and moderate lipoxygenase and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity presented by RLL supercritical extracts. Moreover, the samples were found to present α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. This may indicate the anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic potential of RLL supercritical extracts.
Keywords: Rhododendron luteum, LC-MS, Terpenes, β-Sitosterol, Flavonoids, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic, SFE
Received: 14 Feb 2025; Accepted: 20 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Łyko, Nowak, Olech, Gawlik, Krajewska, Kalemba and Prokopiv. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Renata Nowak, Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland, Lublin, Poland
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.