Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Chemical Composition Analysis of In Vitro Huperzia serrata Thallus and Wild Huperzia serrata

Huperzine A is a preferred treatment option for Alzheimer's disease. <i>Huperzia serrata</i> (Thunb. ex Murray) Trev. (<i>H. serrata</i>) has garnered significant attention for its ability to produce Huperzine A (HupA). However, natural populations of wild <i>H. serrata</i> (WH) are rapidly declining. Fortunately, our group obtained two types of <i>H. serrata</i> thalli (OT and ST) capable of stably producing Huperzine A, which have the potential to serve as an alternative resource to WH. To evaluate the feasibility of this strategy, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of both WH and <i>H. serrata</i> thallus. The results indicated that compared to WH, ST and OT exhibited stronger anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, with lower cytotoxicity. Notably, ST demonstrated a strong radical scavenging activity, reaching 93.23% (DPPH at 0.2 μg/mL) and 99.87% (ABTS at 4 μg/mL), and reduced nitrite production from 10.29 μM to 6.51 μM at 50 µg/mL. GC-MS and widely targeted metabolomics analyses revealed that the higher antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities for ST and OT were due to higher concentrations of phenolic acids and flavonoids compared to WH. In addition, the HupA content in ST reached 36.56% of that found in WH. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the flavonoid, phenylalanine, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways may be involved in regulating the antioxidant activity. P-coumaroyl quinic acid and caffeoyl quinic acid are the crucial metabolites for antioxidant activity. These findings suggested that the <i>H. serrata</i> thallus could serve as a sustainable alternative to WH.