Phytochemical Profiling of Boswellia sacra Leaf Extracts and Evaluation of Their Pancreatic Lipase Inhibitory, Antimicrobial, and Antiproliferative Activities

This study optimized supercritical fluid extraction (SC-CO2) parameters for Boswellia sacra leaves to evaluate how extraction thermodynamics influence subsequent pharmacological bioactivity. Using a multi-parametric approach, extracts obtained at 40 °C and 80 °C (100 bar) were profiled via HPLC-DAD and evaluated using in vitro antimicrobial, pancreatic lipase inhibition, and Caco-2 cell antiproliferative assays. HPLC analysis revealed that the 40 °C threshold preserved chemical diversity (17 active peaks, retaining higher caffeic acid and rutin concentrations), whereas 80 °C conditions caused severe compound degradation. Consequently, the 40 °C extracts exhibited significantly enhanced biomedical potencies over the 80 °C variants, demonstrating superior microbiostatic activity against Gram-positive bacteria and Candida albicans (MIC = 15.62 µg/mL), stronger porcine pancreatic lipase inhibition (IC50 = 17.21 µg/mL), and greater antiproliferative efficacy against human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (IC50 = 109.47 µg/mL). Ultimately, maintaining low thermal thresholds during green extraction is critical to preserving the integrated polyphenolic architecture of B. sacra required for multi-targeted antimicrobial, anti-obesity, and anticancer therapeutics.