Comprehensive LC-MS/MS phenolic profiling of Arum elongatum plant and bioaccessibility of phenolics in their infusions

Arum elongatum has various bioactive compounds including phenolic acids and flavonoids that may have beneficial effects on human health. The main objectives of this study were to determine the phenolic profile of the A. elongatum plant together with the total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), and total antioxidant capacities of A. elongatum infusions throughout gastrointestinal digestion. The samples used in the present study were obtained from two cities (C1 and C2) in Türkiye. According to the results, while the primary compounds found in sample C1 were vanillic acid (51.29 ± 2.61 ng/mg), p-coumaric acid (48.36 ± 2.84 ng/mg) and O-coumaric acid (156.02 ± 0.67 ng/mg); chlorogenic acid (50.63 ± 0.65 ng/mg), scutellarin (144.34 ± 0.74 ng/mg), and O-coumaric acid (53.34 ± 0.97 ng/mg) were the major compounds in C2 sample showing the differences between different locations. In addition to these, although both TPC and TFC values for C2 infusion (2960 ± 104 mg GAE/100 g and 397 ± 50 mg CE/100 g, respectively) were found to be higher than the infusion of sample C1, there were no significant differences between the TPC and TFC results after intestinal digestion (p > 0.05). Besides, TPC of the bioaccessible fractions of these two samples didn't show a significant difference (p > 0.05), whereas C1 infusion (202 ± 21%) presented a higher value than the C2 infusion (143 ± 12%) for their bioaccessible TFC value. Our results indicated that A. elongatum infusion may be a potential herbal tea due to its rich phenolic content, making it a suitable substitute for widely used herbal teas.