Bioactivity of Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Heather (Calluna vulgaris) Leaf Tinctures: An Optimization Study Using Response Surface Methodology

In the current research, two medicinal important plants namely hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and heather (Calluna vulgaris) leaf were used for the tincture production according to central composite rotatable design and the produced tinctures were subjected to bioactive analysis to reveal the optimum manufacturing conditions. As response, total phenolic content and radical scavenging performance of the produced tinctures were analyzed. The levels of total phenolics and radical scavenging performance activity of the hawthorn and heather tinctures ranged between 2996.9-5415.8 mg GAE/L and 5514.9-13923.6 mg GAE/L and 26.9-71.9 and 51.0-94.1%, respectively. Effect of both liquid/solid ratio and ethanol concentration affected the bioactivity of the samples. Optimization process revealed that the optimum levels for the highest total phenolic content and antiradical activity were 4.03 mL/g for liquid/solid ratio and 67.07% for ethanol level for the hawthorn tincture and 4.03 mL/g for liquid/solid ratio and 53.77% for ethanol level for the heather tincture. The results of the current work revealed that the processing variables had important effect on the bioactivity of the tinctures.