Identification of a high-value sorghum accession with multifunctional bioactivities: antioxidant-driven screening linked to anti-inflammatory and anti-aging-related potential

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is increasingly recognized as a valuable source of bioactive compounds with potential applications in functional foods.In this study, an antioxidant-guided screening strategy was employed to identify superior sorghum genetic resources with multifunctional bioactivities.A total of 30 accessions collected from Gangwon Province (Republic of Korea) were evaluated for their antioxidant capacity, followed by targeted analyses of phenolic composition and biological activities.Among the tested accessions, IT225078 exhibited the strongest radical scavenging activity (RC 50 =42.03±2.46μg/mL), along with high total phenolic and flavonoid contents.High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed caffeic acid as a major phenolic compound, which may contribute to its biological activity.The extract of IT225078 significantly inhibited nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages without cytotoxic effects and suppressed the expression of inflammatory mediators, including inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2, at both transcriptional and protein levels.Furthermore, the extract demonstrated strong inhibitory activities against elastase and tyrosinase, indicating potential anti-agingrelated functionality.These findings suggest that antioxidant-guided screening is an effective strategy for identifying high-value sorghum resources and highlight IT225078 as a promising functional ingredient for food and nutraceutical applications.