FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (21): 18-29.doi: 10.7506/spkx1002-6630-20250318-139

• Typical Functional Foods with Homology of Medicine and Food and Their Health Effects • Previous Articles    

In Vitro Antioxidant and Hypoglycemic Activities and Metabolomics Analysis of Stems and Flowers of Dendrobium strongylanthum Rchb. f.

XU Xinning, SHA Rongshuang, ZHANG Xuechun, TANG Junrong, ZHOU Ying, LI Nengbo, HE Xiahong, WANG Zhenxing   

  1. (1. Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of In-forest Resource, Forest Resources Exploitation and Utilization Engineering Research Center for Grand Health of Yunnan Provincial Universities, College of Biological Science and Food Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China;2. Institute of Caulis Dendrobii of Longling County, Baoshan 678300, China)
  • Published:2025-11-10

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Abstract: In this study, the stems and flowers of Dendrobium strongylanthum Rchb. f. were evaluated for total contents of phenols, total flavonoids, and polysaccharides. The in vitro antioxidant activity was assessed by measuring their 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) cation radical, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity, and iron reducing ability; the in vitro hypoglycemic activity was assessed using the α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory assays. Furthermore, untargeted metabolomic analysis was performed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). The results showed that the contents of total phenols and total flavonoids in the flowers (66.56 and 49.12 mg/g, respectively) were higher than those of the stems (P < 0.05), while the polysaccharide content of the stems (172.78 mg/g) was higher than that of the flowers (P < 0.05). The flower extract had stronger antioxidant activity than did the stem extract with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 2.87 and 18.42 mg/mL for DPPH and hydroxyl radicals, respectively and ABTS cation radical scavenging capacity and iron reducing ability of 0.63 mg/g and 6.11 mg/g, respectively. The α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activity (28.63 and 35.54 mg/g) of the flower extract was higher than that of the stem extract. A total of 1 800 metabolites were identified from the stems and flowers by non-targeted metabolomics analysis, of which 589 were recognized as differential metabolites, includes carboxylic acids and their derivatives, heterocyclic compounds, and oxygen/sulfur/nitrogen/fluorine/phosphorus derivatives. Correlation analysis showed that flavonoid components such as rutin were the major contributors to the antioxidant and hypoglycemic activity of D. strongylanthum Rchb. f.. In conclusion, this plant’s flowers exhibited excellent antioxidant and hypoglycemic activities, indicating its potential as a functional food ingredient and natural antioxidant.

Key words: Dendrobium strongylanthum Rchb. f.; flowers; stems; antioxidant; hypoglycemic; metabolomics

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