Identification of polyphenols in white mugwort (Artemisia lactiflora Wall.) ethanolic extracts and their anti-inflammatory and anti-adipogenic activity potential

White mugwort (Artemisia lactiflora Wall.) is known as a medicinal herb containing phytochemicals with antioxidant and bio-activity.The optimal concentration of ethanol was investigated for extracting polyphenols from the fresh aerial part and dried powder of white mugwort as expressed by total phenolic content (TPC),phenolic compounds,antioxidant,anti-inflammatory,and anti-adipogenic activity.Among various ethanol concentrations (0,25,50 or 95%) used in the extraction process,the freeze-dried extract from fresh aerial part (FE) extracted with 95% ethanol expressed the highest antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging IC50 of 0.817 ± 0.06 μl/mg dry weight (DW) and FRAP value of 11.40 ± 0.86 mmol Fe(II)/g DW) and the highest TPC (61.46 ± 3.09 mgGAE/g DW).While,the freeze-dried extract from dried powder (PE) exhibited the prominent antioxidant properties (DPPH radical scavenging IC50 of 0.975 ± 0.03 μl/mg DW and FRAP value of 07.60 ± 0.22 mmol Fe(II)/g DW),TPC (48.11 ± 1.45 mgGAE/g DW) when extracted with 50% ethanol.Seven phenolic compounds—two phenolic acids (gallic acid and tannic acid) and five flavonoids (apigenin,isoquercetin,quercetin,rutin,and catechin) were identified in FE and PE using HPLC-DAD/MS.The inflammatory genes were down-regulated in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated THP-1 monocytes treated with PE,suggesting anti-inflammatory activity.Lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with FE at 60 μ gGAE/mL decreased to 12.8%,while the decrease of 36.8% was detected in PE.Hence,flavonoids were suggested to be responsible for the stronger bioactivity of PE over FE.Moreover,this work originally revealed the investigation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-adipogenic activity of white mugwort on THP-1 and 3T3-L1 cells.