Profiling of Petroselinum sativum (mill.) fuss phytoconstituents and assessment of their biocompatibility, antioxidant, anti-aging, wound healing, and antibacterial activities.

Petroselinum sativum, known as parsley, is a fragrant herb that possesses a rich heritage of utilization in traditional medicinal practices. In this study, we annotated the phytocontents of the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of P. sativum and investigated their antioxidant, cytoprotective, antiaging, wound healing, and antibacterial activities. LC-MS/MS analysis of both extracts revealed the presence of 47 compounds belonging to diverse groups including organic acids, phenolic acids, and flavonoids. By MTT assay, the extracts were fully biocompatible on immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCaT) while they inhibited intracellular ROS formation (DCFDA assay) and prevented GSH depletion (DTNB assay) upon UVA exposure. In addition, the extracts were potent in inhibiting the in vitro activities of skin-related enzymes mainly elastase, tyrosinase, collagenase and hyaluronidase. Using the scratch assay, P. sativum aqueous extract significantly enhanced wound closure when compared to untreated HaCaT cells. Moreover, both extracts inhibited Pseudomonas aeruginosa's growth, reduced biofilm formation, and impaired the swimming and swarming motilities. Also, the aqueous extract was able to inhibit the production of bacterial pigments on plates. These findings strongly suggest the usefulness of P. sativum as a source of phytochemicals suitable for dermo-cosmeceutical applications.

Chemical composition, antioxidant properties, and antifungal activity of wild Origanum elongatum extracts against Phytophthora infestans.

Introduction: Phytophthora infestans, the causative agent of late blight disease, has gained notoriety for its destructive potential, leading to substantial losses in potato yields. Although conventional systemic fungicides have been shown to be effective in controlling plant pathogens, growing environmental concerns have prompted the need for more integrated disease management approaches. Hence, in this study, the effectiveness of wild Origanum elongatum extracts as biopesticides was explored in controlling P. infestans and potentially mitigating its devastating impact in planta. Methods: The aerial parts of O. elongatum were subjected to sequential extraction using water, hexane, chloroform, and methanol. The obtained extracts were tested in vitro through the poisoned food procedure for their capacity to obstruct P. infestans growth and to defeat potato blight severity in vivo. The phyto-contents (total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC)), as well as the antioxidant activities, were spectrophotometrically determined in all extracts, and the phytoconstituents of the most active extract (methanolic extract) were profiled via high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-MS/MS). Results: In vitro, the complete inhibition rate of the P. infestans was obtained using the methanolic extract at 5 mg/mL, followed by the hexane and chloroform extracts at 10 mg/mL. Interestingly, complete inhibition of the pathogen was achieved upon the application of the aqueous extract at 10 mg/mL. In vivo, the aqueous extract at 25 mg/mL reduced the P. infestans severity rate to 27.25%, while the methanolic extract at 20 mg/mL led to the lowest severity rate. Moreover, the hexane and chloroform extracts impaired the pathogen severity rate to 50% and 41% using 20 mg/mL, respectively. The TPC and TFC in the extracts were variable with high concentrations detected in the methanolic extract with 485.42 mg GAE/g and 58.24 mg QE/g, respectively. In addition, the methanolic extract showed the highest antioxidant activities, while the chloroform extract exhibited the lowest activity. Liquid chromatography (LC)-MS/MS analysis of the methanol extract revealed 56 components from diverse classes. These included organic acids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, and coumarins. Conclusion: These findings suggest that O. elongatum could be investigated as a potential source of antifungal compounds targeting different phytopathogens.

Fractionation and phytochemical composition of an ethanolic extract of Ziziphus nummularia leaves: antioxidant and anticancerous properties in human triple negative breast cancer cells.

Natural products have long been utilized in traditional medicine as remedies to improve health and treat illnesses, and have had a key role in modern drug discovery. Recently, there has been a revived interest in the search for bioactives from natural sources as alternative or complementary modalities to synthetic medicines; especially for cancer treatment, which incidence and mortality rates are on the rise worldwide. Ziziphus nummularia has been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. Its traditional uses and numerous ethnopharmacological properties may be attributed to its richness in bioactive metabolites. However, its phytochemical composition or chemopreventive effects against the aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are still poorly explored. Here, phytochemical composition of an ethanolic extract of Z. nummularia leaves (ZNE) and its chromatographically isolated fractions was identified both qualitatively by spectrophotometric assays and analytically by HPLC-PDA-MS/MS. The anti-proliferative effects of ZNE were tested in several cancer cell lines, but we focused on its anti-TNBC effects since they were not explored yet. The anti-cancerous potential of ZNE and its fractions was tested in vitro in MDA-MB-231, a TNBC cell line. Results showed that ZNE and its Fraction 6 (F6) reduced the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells. F6 decreased MDA-MB-231 viability more than crude ZNE or its other fractions. ZNE and F6 are rich in phytochemicals and HPLC-PDA-MS/MS analysis identified several metabolites that were previously reported to have anti-cancerous effects. Both ZNE and F6 showed potent antioxidant capacity in the DPPH assay, but promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in MDA-MB-231 cells; an effect which was blunted by the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). NAC also blunted ZNE- and F6-induced reduction in TNBC cell viability. We also demonstrated that ZNE and F6 induced an arrest of the cell cycle, and triggered apoptosis- and autophagy-mediated cell death. ZNE and F6 inhibited metastasis-related cellular processes by modifying cell migration, invasion, and adhesion. Taken together, our findings reveal that Z. nummularia is rich in phytochemicals that can attenuate the malignant phenotype of TNBC and may offer innovative avenues for the discovery of new drug leads for treatment of TNBC and other cancers.

Argan: Phytochemical profiling and evaluation of the antioxidant, hypoglycemic, and antibacterial properties of its fruit pulp extracts.

Herein, we isolated three triterpenoid saponins from the methanol extract of the fruit pulp of argan. The structures of the identified compounds were determined using comprehensive NMR spectroscopy analyses (1H, 13C NMR, COSY, TOCSY, ROESY, and HSQC), combined with mass spectroscopy. Gas chromatography (GC) was utilized to determine the monosaccharide contents after the samples underwent methanolysis and their glycoside configuration was proved via their trimethylsilyl derivatives. Furthermore, the methanol extract of the fruit pulp and its n-butanol fraction were evaluated for their antioxidant properties via DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assays, antidiabetic activity using α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition activities, and antibacterial properties utilizing microdilution and antibiofilm assays. Compared to the crude methanol extract, our results showed that the n-butanol fraction exhibited more potent antioxidant activity and antibacterial potential against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Enterococcus faecalis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC = 12.5-50 mg/mL); while no effect on the bacterial biofilm was observed. The methanol extract was more effective in inhibiting α-glucosidase (EC50 = 0.15 mg/mL), however, the n-butanol fraction elicited strong α-amylase inhibition (EC50 = 0.49 mg/mL). These findings suggest that the fruit pulp of argan could serve as a potential source of phytochemicals suitable for the treatment of diabetes and its related complications.