Aufwertung von zwei spontanen tunesischen Arten

The flora represents a powerful reservoir of secondary metabolites that play a role in various sectors of the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Therefore, health-damaging synthetic molecules must be replaced by natural molecules that can act individually and/or in synergy. This study compares the biological potential of extracts and essential oils from the two spontaneously occurring species Lavandula stoechas and Phillyrea angustifolia. In this context, the latter is endowed with a high antioxidant capacity, which is strongly correlated with its richness in bioactive compounds. Furthermore, the essential oil exhibits potential anticancer effects while inhibiting the proliferation of breast cancer cells MCF-7 and the liver cancer-related cells HepG2. The effectiveness of this species is likely due to the presence of gallic acid in the extracts and the chemotypic alpha-pinene characteristic of the essential oils of this plant, contributing to the enhancement of P. angustifolia as a source of biomolecules.