Phenolic composition and biological activities of Turkish endemic plant: Stachys cretica subsp. kutahyensis

Abstract Stachys cretica L. subsp. kutahyensis is a Turkish endemic plant specie and used in flock medicine against many diseases. To our knowledge, no data are available on the chemical composition and the biological activities of this plant. In this study, the phytochemical composition, the enzyme inhibition and antioxidant activity of this specie were assessed. The Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–ESI–MS) analysis allowed the determination of 26 phenolic compounds with predominance of chlorogenic acid and verbascoside. The concentration of phenolic acids and flavonoid compounds significantly changed according to solvent used (water and methanol). From five different methods used, the antioxidant activity was important and significantly different between extracts for ferrous ion chelating and ABTS assays where the aqueous extract expressed higher antioxidant activity. However, interesting enzyme inhibition activities were observed for the extracts of S. cretica subsp. kutahyensis using α-amylase and tyrosinase. The highest α-amylase and tyrosinase inhibition activities were recorded with the methanol extract. The results confirm that S. cretica subsp. kutahyensis could be used as valuable new natural source with beneficial biological properties for food and pharmacology applications.