Potential in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and anticancer effect of arachidonic acid-elicited basil leaves

The study presents the impact of elicitation of basil with 0.01 µM (AA1), 1 µM (AA2) and 100 µM (AA3) arachidonic acid on the content and bioactivity of potentially bioavailable polyphenols. Elevated levels of phenolic compounds correlated with increased biological activity were observed in the extracts from basil (control and elicited) subjected to simulated gastrointestinal digestion in comparison to chemical and standard buffer extracts. Elicitation with AA1 and AA2 resulted in an 3-fold and more than 4-fold increase in the content of potentially bioavailable rosmarinic acid, respectively. In some cases, elicitation with arachidonic acid improved the pro-health properties of the potentially bioaccessible fraction of phenolic compounds. The highest elevation of antioxidant properties (DPPH) of the potentially bioavailable phenolic compounds in extract from elicited with AA3 basil was observed (2-fold increase compared to control). AA3 sample after digestion exhibited also higher LOX inhibition ability (ca. 23%) than the control.