## 3 Results and Discussion
### Phytochemical Characterization and Biological Activities
#### 3.3.2 Bioactivity: Antioxidant, Antihypertensive, and Antiproliferative Effects  
As mentioned above, the drying method is considered the most common technique for the postharvest preservation of herbs and edible plants; however, this technique is reported to have an influence on the content of bioactive compounds in several food matrices [112], including _S. rnmossissima_. In Table 5, the impact of the drying process on the total phenolic content (TPC) and bioactivity of _S. rnmossima_, namely antioxidant and antihypertensive activities, is described. The TPC value of fresh _S. rnmossissima_ was 1.02 mg GAE/g few and these values are in the same range as previously described for fresh _Salicornia genus_, between 1.05 and 1.53 mg GAE/g few [43]. This value is above the lower limit of other sediments rated as rich in phenolic compounds (<1.0 mg GAE/g few), such as celery (0.31), garlic (1.01), onion yellow (0.95), capsaicin green (0.59), leek (0.85) [117], and c  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Processing Plant** & **Fresh** **(fw)****a** & **Fresh** **(dw)****abc** & **Oven-Dried** **(dw)****ab** & **Freeze-Dried** **(dw)****ab** \\ \hline TPC (mg GAE/g) & 1.02 \(\pm\) 0.04 & 8.64 \(\pm\) 0.34 & 7.41 \(\pm\) 0.29 & 9.74 \(\pm\) 0.88 & 9.74 \(\pm\) 0.88 \\ \hline _Antioxidant activity_ & & & & \\ ORAC (\(\mu\)mol TEAC/g) & 23.85 \(\pm\) 3.04 & 202.10 \(\pm\) 25.81 & 291.10 \(\pm\) 17.95 & 418.81 \(\pm\) 54.01 & 9.74 \(\pm\) 0.88 & 9.74 \(\pm\) 0.88 &  
Results showed that a lower TPC value was observed in the oven-dried extract (7.41 mg GAE/g) than in the fresh and freeze-dried plant extract (8.64 and 9.74 mg GAE/g dw, respectively). The TPC values from the freeze-dried extract are also in accordance to data already reported (7.03 to 12.09 mg GAE/g dw) [10] and values for other species of freeze-dried _Salicornia_, namely _Salicornia europaea_ (5.6 to 9.30 mg GAE/g dw) [119]. In contrast, studies on oven-dried _S. ramossissima_ reported higher TPC values than the one reported in this work (27.44 to 33.00 mg GAE/g dw) [7; 15]. This difference can be due to several factors related to the culture conditions of the fresh plant including the salt stress conditions and environmental changes [10; 36]. Halophytes live in extremely harsh environments with high salinities and UV radiation, and these stressful conditions lead to the production of secondary metabolites such as the phenolic compounds in different concentrations [7]. The phenolic content of dried plants has high positive significant correlations with their antioxidant activity (average \(r>\) 0.9741). Correlation between the TPC and ORAC assay was 0.985, while between TPC and HOSC was 0.962. The freeze-drying plant presented a significantly higher value of the ORAC compared to the fresh plant (202.10 \(\upmu\)mol TEAC/g dw) and a similar value in the HOSC assay (220.21 \(\upmu\)mol TEAC/g dw). This result can be explained by the highest concentrations observed of the flavonoids in the freeze-dried plant [120]. Flavonoids are generally more capable of inactivating peroxyl radicals than the small phenolic antioxidants, whereas hydroxycinnamic acids are very effective in the inactivation of hydroxyl radicals [121]. This study showed that there are differences among the drying processes, which can be explained by the reduction of the phenolic profile of the oven-dried plant compared to freeze-dried (Table 4). The oven-drying process presented an average reduction of 31% in antioxidant activity probably due to the reduction of quercetin glycosides. The reactions involved in the decrease of phenolics compounds with increasing drying temperature (40-70 \({}^{\circ}\)C) are associated to enzymatic and non-enzymatic oxidation reactions [21; 122]. Similarly to our results, studies also showed that the oven-drying process of _S. fruticosa_ exposed to a high temperature (70 \({}^{\circ}\)C) for a long time contributed to the reduction of the polyphenols content [21] and the loss of antioxidant properties [48]. The antihypertensive activity of _S.