Metabolic signatures by LC-HRMS/MS of jabuticaba (Plinia cauliflora) juice, liqueur, and wines reveal the wealthiest sources of bioactive metabolites

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the total phenolic content, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, and metabolomic profiling of Jabuticaba beverages. The metabolomic profiling showed a greater abundance of flavonoids in liqueur samples, while sweet wine predominantly contained phenolic acids. On the other hand, dry wine was characterized by a higher abundance of terpenes. The total phenolic content (TPC) was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, while antioxidant activity was evaluated using the DPPH radical-scavenging assay. Notably, dry wine was rich in anthocyanins and tannins and demonstrated the highest TPC (2985.08 ± 0.23 mg GAE/L). Furthermore, this sample exhibited superior antioxidant activity (IC50 0.83 ± 0.005 μg/mL). All beverages’ samples displayed excellent antioxidant potential and TPC ranking as: dry wine > liqueur > sweet wine > juice. In terms of anti-inflammatory activity, treatments with 5 % dry wine led to reduce NO production. Molecular networking and chemometric tools, including HCA and PLS-DA, were employed to differentiate the samples and identify key metabolites. Chemometric analysis showed similar molecular composition between liqueur and dry wine samples, with the primary differences observed in their content of phenolic acids and simple phenols.