Salvia transsylvanica, an endemic Romanian sage, remains understudied despite co-occurrence with validated medicinal Salvia species. In this study, lfeaves and flowers were harvested weekly during flowering (May and June) and subjected to classical hydroethanolic extraction, HPLC–DAD–ESI/MSn profiling, in vitro antioxidant assays (ABTS, DPPH, FRAP), and enzyme-inhibitory screening, with multivariate analysis correlating compositional patterns with bioactivity. Rosmarinic acid dominated the phenolic profile (68.6 mg/g maximum in week 4), alongside salvianolic acids (salvianolic acid K isomers) and flavonoid glycosides (luteolin, apigenin, and hispidulin hexosides). Leaf extracts displayed higher ABTS/DPPH scavenging (higher phenolic acid content), while flowers showed superior FRAP and α-glucosidase inhibition (IC50 84–143 μg/mL, higher flavonoids), with maximal values being identified during week 4. S. transsylvanica offers complementary antioxidant profiles to commercial sages, warranting future in vivo validation for therapeutic applications.
Brudiu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.