ABSTRACT
The study aimed to investigate the phytochemical profiles, in vitro antioxidant activity, and in silico molecular dockingantidiabetic activity of the aqueous root extracts of Ruellia tuberosa L. The phytochemical qualitative tests revealedthe positive detections of tannins, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and phenolic compounds. Using Liquid chromatographyhigh-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) analysis, 12 compounds were tentatively identified in the extracts.The major compounds were tentatively identified as betaine, daidzein, hispidulin, α-linoleic acid, and 4-coumaric acid.The aqueous root extracts have high antioxidant activity with the IC50 value of 15.2 mg/ml against DPPH free radicals.The major putatively identified compounds were docked to human pancreatic α-amylase protein, to investigate theirinhibitory activities to this enzyme. The interaction between betaine, daidzein, and hispidulin in docking with humanpancreatic a-amylase showed different binding sites to the protein. In addition, the types of bonds involved weremostly hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds which show the interactions between three ligands and α-amylase. Energygenerated from docking between betaine, daidzein, and hispidulin with α-amylase was −137.6, −245.8, and −236.7cal/mol, respectively. This study concludes that the aqueous root extracts of R. tuberosa L. have prospective as aninhibitor for a-amylase protein and to be used as antidiabetic agent. Further, in vitro and in vivo studies are needed toconfirm this work.
ABSTRACT
In this study, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with a combination of oleic acid and chitosan were synthesizedby ex situ and in situ coprecipitation methods. Morphology and particle size, crystal structure and crystallite size,chemical structure, and magnetic saturation were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-raydiffraction (XRD), Fourrier transform infrared, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. SEMimages showed that better spherical morphology is obtained by ex situ co-precipitation method. The XRD patternidentified that nanoparticles containing Fe3O4 and γ-Fe2O3. The particles and crystallite size of the nanoparticles tendedto decrease with increasing oleic acid to the optimum composition. Further functionalization through the chitosanaddition (crosslinked by Tripolyphosphate/sulfate) is contributed to the hydrophilicity properties of nanoparticles.Through VSM analysis, MNPs-oleic acid-chitosan showed superparamagnetic behavior with magnetic saturationreaching 32.63 emu/g. There was a linear correlation between magnetic saturation and Fe3O4 content of nanoparticles.Drug loading and drug release were carried out by using Doxorubicin. These nanoparticles showed a high drug loadingefficiency with lower chitosan composition. Loading efficiency of Doxorubicin is related to the conjugation withcarboxylic groups and hydrophobic sites from oleic acid and MNPs