Polyphenolic profile, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of Tunisian cultivated sage (Salvia officinalis L.) extracts

Medicinal and aromatic plants have always been the major source of bioactive molecules that have many biological activities and health benefits.Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is known to be an effective potential source of natural antioxidants which confer benefits to human health.Their bioactive properties are mainly due to the polyphenolic compounds.The aim of the present work was to determine the polyphenolic profile, to estimate the total phenolic content (TPC), and to evaluate the antioxidant activity of Tunisian cultivated sage hydroethanolic extract.The qualitative and quantitative identification performed by HPLC analysis allowed for identifying and quantifying fourteen polyphenolic compounds, including four phenolic acids, two phenolic diterpenes, and eight flavonoids.This analysis revealed the predominance of carnosol and rosmarinic acid (2920.55 and 1371.33 g/gDW, respectively), known to be responsible for the main antioxidant activity of sage.The TPC was 41.65 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry extract (mg GAE/g DE).Furthermore, the sage extract showed potential antioxidant activity and the IC50 value reached 13.21 g/mL.Overall, the results reveal that sage aerial parts hydrohythanolic extract have proven to be an effective potential source of polyphenols, as natural antioxidants which is beneficial to human health, and could be useful in replacing or even decreasing synthetic antioxidants in foods, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.