ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Food Science Technology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1619725
This article is part of the Research TopicAntioxidant Activities and Induction Production Approaches (Physical, Chemical and Biotechnological) of Plant-based Bioactive NutrientsView all articles
Antioxidant, neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory activity of Curcuma longa extracts: from green extraction to nanoemulsion
Provisionally accepted
Adriana Perez1
Hugo Martinez1*
Fabián Parada-Alfonso2Zully Jimena Suárez Montenegro3
Diego Ballesteros-Vivas4gerardo alvarez5
Alejandro Cifuentes6
Elena Ibañez6- 1National University of Colombia, Palmira, Palmira, Colombia
- 2Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia
- 3Universidad de Nariño, pasto, Colombia
- 4Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia
- 5University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
- 6Institute of Food Science Research, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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In the present study, the sequential extraction of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) combining supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) followed by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) has been described for the first time to improve the yield and bioactivity of the different fractions. In the SFE stage, the maximum oil extraction yield (4.0%) was obtained; under these conditions, maximum bioactives' content was obtained. In the UAE stage, the total phenolic content (TPC), curcuminoids, antioxidant capacity (DPPH, ABTS), inhibitory activity against the acetylcholinesterase enzyme (AChE), and against the lipoxygenase enzyme (LOX) were analyzed, together with a complete profile by UHPLC-qTOF-HRMS in order to tentatively identify the compounds responsible of the observed bioactivities.The UAE process resulted in a maximum TPC of 181.51 mg GAE/g DE, CUR of 604.40 mg/g DE, highlighting a high inhibitory potential for AChE (IC 50 : 5.21 µg/mL) and LOX (IC50: 17.96 µg/mL).A nanoemulsion of the obtained extract showed no significant changes after 15 days, indicating good stability and homogeneous particle distribution. The SFE+UAE combination enhances yield and concentration of bioactive compounds like phenols and curcuminoids, optimizing turmeric extract's neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory potential and providing fractions with specific composition of bioactives, thus targeting different health benefits. In this sense, both fractions could be advantageously employed to develop nutraceuticals and/or functional foods with specific health benefits.
Keywords: curcuminoids, Acetylcholinesterase, lipoxyganase, Nanoemulsions, anti-inflammatory, Supercritical Fluid Extraction, Ultrasound assisted extraction, Green extraction
Received: 28 Apr 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Perez, Martinez, Parada-Alfonso, Suárez Montenegro, Ballesteros-Vivas, alvarez, Cifuentes and Ibañez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hugo Martinez, National University of Colombia, Palmira, Palmira, Colombia
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