A chemometric study on phenolic profiles and biological properties of cotton honeys from Turkey

Abstract

Honey, a nutritious and healthy product, has recently been the focus of research due to its characteristic chemical composition and a wide variety of biological properties. The current study aims to investigate the phenolic profiles and tyrosinase, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), urease and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes inhibitory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial and quorum sensing inhibition activities of twelve cotton honeys in 2 different regions from Turkey with the chemometric approach. The phenolic profile was determined by HPLC–DAD and gallic acid (8.95–84.47 μg/g) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (0.21–1.45 μg/g) were detected in all cotton honeys studied. The SB-coded cotton honey from Şanlıurfa showed the highest activity in β-carotene linoleic acid (IC50: 5.94 ± 0.25 mg/mL), ABTS (IC50: 12.95 ± 0.49 mg/mL), CUPRAC (A0.50: 8.65 ± 0.41 mg/mL), metal chelating (IC50: 5.46 ± 0.28 mg/mL), AChE (13.65 ± 0.21%) and BChE (9.78 ± 0.11%) assays. The SE-coded cotton honey from Şanlıurfa was found to be the strongest in DPPH (IC50: 37.62 ± 1.40 mg/mL), anti-QS (44 mm zone) and swarming motility inhibition (30.47%) activities. Among all the other cotton honeys studied, AK1-coded cotton honey from Adana showed the highest antimicrobial activity against S. aureus (22 mm zone), L. monocytogenes (13 mm zone) bacteria and C. albicans (13 mm zone), C. tropicalis (15 mm zone) strains, and anti-inflammatory activity against COX-2 (16.59 ± 0.24%) and COX-1 (42.71 ± 0.56%). According to the PCA and HCA analysis results of cotton honeys based on phenolic compounds and biological activities, it is seen that cotton honeys from Adana and Şanlıurfa were clustered separately.