Phytochemical Composition, Elemental Profiles, Antioxidant Activity, and Xenobiotic Relevance of Rosehip and Sea Buckthorn Fruits from Armenia

Medicinal and edible plants are valuable sources of biologically active compounds whose composition may vary with botanical identity, geographical origin, environmental conditions, and post-harvest processing. In addition to essential mineral constituents, such plants may accumulate non-essential and potentially toxic elements relevant to exogenous chemical exposure and xenobiotic research. This study characterized the phytochemical composition, essential and non-essential elemental profile, and antioxidant activity of rosehip (Rosa spp.) and sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) fruits collected from different locations in Armenia. Soluble sugars and vitamin C were determined by HPLC, elemental composition by ICP-OES, and radical-scavenging activity by the DPPH assay. In fresh rosehip, vitamin C ranged from 130 to 900 mg/100 g, compared with 11.9–40.0 mg/100 g in sea buckthorn. Potassium was predominant in both fruits. In the analyzed samples, the measured Ca and Mg concentrations were numerically higher in rosehip, whereas higher Fe concentrations were observed in sea buckthorn. Potentially toxic elements, including As, Cd, and Pb, were detected at different concentrations among the analyzed samples. In the selected paired rosehip samples, lower DPPH radical-scavenging activity was measured in the shade-dried materials than in the corresponding fresh materials, while the analyzed sea buckthorn samples showed high DPPH radical-scavenging activity under the applied assay conditions. These findings provide a comparative characterization of the phytochemical and elemental profiles of the investigated fruits and highlight the xenobiotic relevance of the detected non-essential elements.