## 3 Results and Discussion
### Total Phenolics and Flavonoids  
Autoclave-sterilization significantly affected the concentration of phenolic compounds in dragon's blood extracts, but not of those in xoconostle fruit extracts (Table 3). It was observed that the concentrations of total phenols and flavonoids in \(S_{\text{B}}\) increased by 95.7% and 92%, respectively, almost double the amount with respect to the \(S_{\text{A}}\) extracts. [PERSON] et al. [32] mention that heat treatment promotes the release of phenolic compounds, due to the breakdown of cell walls and cellular components such as vacuoles, and they also mention that thermal treatment dissociates conjugated polyphenols, such as tannins, to simpler phenolic compounds. In some studies where thermal treatment by autoclaving is used, samples of grain sprouts, seedlings, and legumes have also presented an increase in the total phenolic content [33; 34]. Phenolic contents in extracts can be affected by extrinsic factors such as temperature, pH, light, and oxygen content, among others [35]. In this study, the ultrasound bath that was used for rehydration of the extracts may also have had an effect on increasing the total phenol content of dragon's blood rhizome extracts. This is because ultrasound treatment causes micro-ruptures in the suspended particles via cavitation, increasing the surface area and enhancing the solubilization of phenolic compounds [36]. On the other hand, some flavonoids are stable at high temperatures. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [37] reported that when the temperature is increased, thermal hydrolysis of glycosylated compounds occurs, increasing their solubility and modifying the diffusion coefficient, causing an increase in flavonoid content. In this study, autoclave-sterilization did not significantly affect the content of phenolic compounds in xoconostle extracts. In contrast, the flavonoids in sterilized extracts only increased by 16.8%, compared to the non-sterilized extracts. Other compounds, such as mucilage and soluble polysaccharides (15% found in xoconostle), may have protected the bioactive compounds under high temperatures [38; 39]; this may be related to the small variation of the content of phenolic compounds in the \(X_{\text{A}}\) extracts compared to the \(X_{\text{B}}\) extracts. Also, other researchers state that high temperatures can increase or decrease the concentration of the phenolic compounds; these results are related to factors such as temperature, exposure time, pH, water content, and raw material composition [40]. On the other hand, a slight increase in flavonoid content in \(X_{\text{B}}\) compared to \(X_{\text{A}}\) extracts may be due to the thermal stability that these present, depending on the media, chemical structures, and pH [37]. Also, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [37] reported that when the temperature is increased, thermal hydrolysis of glycosylated compounds occurs, which causes an increase in the flavonoid content. Unsterilized extracts of dragon's blood showed 75% higher contents of phenolic compounds than non-sterile extracts of xoconostle, while sterilized extracts of dragon's blood were 87.7% higher in phenolic content than xoconostle extracts that had been sterilized by autoclaving. This may be due to the fact that in the dragon's blood plant, the roots are the first tissues that detect a water deficit condition and induce stress signals, which translate into a higher concentration of secondary metabolites in which the phenolic compounds are included [13]. Another reason could be due to the  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Samples**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\ \begin{tabular}{c} **TPC** \\ **(mgGAE/g)** \\ \end{tabular}  } & \multirow{2}{*}{ \begin{tabular}{c} **Flavonoids** \\ **(mgQE/g)** \\ \end{tabular}