Bioactivities and phenolic constituents relationship of Muğla thyme and pine honey of Turkey with the chemometric approach

The chemical ingredients of pine and thyme honey were studied, along with their medicinal activity properties. A method was validated for common honey compounds using LC-TOF/MS to analyze the ingredients. In vitro antiproliferative, antioxidant, anticholinesterase, anti-inflammatory, tyrosinase inhibitory, and urease inhibitory activities were used to investigate the therapeutic potentials. The antiproliferative activity was tested against HeLa, C6 (brain), PC3 (prostate), HT29 (colon), and MCF7 (breast) cancer cell lines while antioxidant activity using β-carotene-linoleic acid, DPPH, ABTS, and CUPRAC assays. Chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, protocatechuic acid, fumaric acid, cinnamic acid, vanillic acid, gentisic acid, salicylic acid, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid were found in high amount in pine honey and less amount in thyme honey. Pine honey extracts and EtAc extract of thyme honey exhibited significant antiproliferative activity against PC3 and C6 cancer cell lines comparing to 5-fluorouracil. The ethyl acetate extracts of pine and thyme honey displayed essential and higher antioxidant activity than BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and α-TOC (α-tocopherol) in all tests. Moreover, the pine honey extracts were more active than that of thyme. The EtAc extracts of both honey extracts exhibited good enzyme inhibitory and anti-inflammatory activity. The ethyl acetate extracts were susceptible to inhibiting butyrylcholinesterase and urease enzymes. The honey studied herein can be said that they contain antioxidant, anticholinesterase, and urease inhibitory compounds, having many beneficial effects. The pine and/or thyme honey are consumed in meals due to their taste and aroma. The results showed that the honey samples, particularly pine honey, are medicinal foods that could be significant for humans who regularly consume them.