Sea rose (Armeria pungens (Link) Hoffmanns. & Link) as a potential source of innovative industrial products for anti-ageing applications

This work explored for the first time the halophyte Armeria pungens (Link) Hoffmanns. & Link (sea rose) as a potential source of industrial natural products with anti-ageing potential. In this sense, ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol and water extracts were prepared from flowers, peduncles and leaves of sea rose and evaluated for in vitro antioxidant capacity by four complementary methods and enzyme inhibitory effects towards enzymes related with the onset of different diseases, namely acetyl- (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), α-glucosidase, tyrosinase, lipase and elastase. The polyphenolic composition of the extracts was appraised by high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection analysis (HPLC-DAD). Nineteen phenolic compounds were identified in the extracts, including flavonoids, hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids, and catechin was the main compound detected. The ethanol extract of sea rose leaves was the most effective as DPPH (IC50 = 83.7 μg/mL) and ABTS (IC50 = 146 μg/mL) scavenger, and also as a copper chelator (IC50 = 81.8 μg/mL). The acetone peduncles’ extract had the highest iron chelating activity (IC50 = 142 μg/mL). Water and ethanol leaf extracts showed the uppermost AChE inhibition (water: IC50 = 87.6 μg/mL; ethanol: IC50 = 90.3 μg/mL). In turn, the ethanol flower extract had the lowest IC50 values towards α-glucosidase (26.7 μg/mL) and tyrosinase (268 μg/mL). The leaf ethanol extract had the highest capacity to inhibit elastase (IC50 = 531 μg/mL), while none of the extracts had significant inhibitory activity on BuChE and lipase. In conclusion, ethanol extracts from leaves and flowers of sea rose showed to be the most promising source of natural products for industrial applications, with anti-ageing properties, namely neuroprotective, anti-diabetic, anti-wrinkles and anti-melanogenic activities.