Metabolic Profiling by GC-MS, In Vitro Biological Potential, and In Silico Molecular Docking Studies of Verbena officinalis.

Verbena officinalis L. is a traditionally important medicinal herb that has a rich source of bioactive phytoconstituents with biological benefits. The objective of this study was to assess the metabolic profile and in vitro biological potential of V. officinalis. The bioactive phytoconstituents were evaluated by preliminary phytochemical studies, estimation of polyphenolic contents, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of all fractions (crude methanolic, n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol) of V. officinalis. The biological investigation was performed by different assays including antioxidant assays (DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC, and FRAP), enzyme inhibition assays (urease and α-glucosidase), and hemolytic activity. The ethyl acetate extract had the maximum concentration of total phenolic and total flavonoid contents (394.30 ± 1.09 mg GAE·g-1 DE and 137.35 ± 0.94 mg QE·g-1 DE, respectively). Significant antioxidant potential was observed in all fractions by all four antioxidant methods. Maximum urease inhibitory activity in terms of IC50 value was shown by ethyl acetate fraction (10 ± 1.60 µg mL-1) in comparison to standard hydroxy urea (9.8 ± 1.20 µg·mL-1). The n-hexane extract showed good α-glucosidase inhibitory efficacy (420 ± 20 µg·mL-1) as compared to other extract/fractions. Minimum hemolytic activity was found in crude methanolic fraction (6.5 ± 0.94%) in comparison to positive standard Triton X-100 (93.5 ± 0.48%). The GC-MS analysis of all extract/fractions of V. officinalis including crude methanolic, n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol fractions, resulted in the identification of 24, 56, 25, and 9 bioactive compounds, respectively, with 80% quality index. Furthermore, the bioactive compounds identified by GC-MS were analyzed using in silico molecular docking studies to determine the binding affinity between ligands and enzymes (urease and α-glucosidase). In conclusion, V. officinalis possesses multiple therapeutical potentials, and further research is needed to explore its use in the treatment of chronic diseases.

Multifaced Assessment of Antioxidant Power, Phytochemical Metabolomics, In-Vitro Biological Potential and In-Silico Studies of Neurada procumbens L.: An Important Medicinal Plant.

This work was undertaken to explore the phytochemical composition, antioxidant, and enzyme-inhibiting properties of Neurada procumbens L. extracts/fractions of varying polarity (methanol extract and its fractions including n-hexane, chloroform, n-butanol, and aqueous fractions). A preliminary phytochemical study of all extracts/fractions, HPLC-PDA polyphenolic quantification, and GC-MS analysis of the n-hexane fraction were used to identify the phytochemical makeup. Antioxidant (DPPH), enzyme inhibition (against xanthine oxidase, carbonic anhydrase, and urease enzymes), and antibacterial activities against seven bacterial strains were performed for biological investigation. The GC-MS analysis revealed the tentative identification of 22 distinct phytochemicals in the n-hexane fraction, the majority of which belonged to the phenol, flavonoid, sesquiterpenoid, terpene, fatty acid, sterol, and triterpenoid classes of secondary metabolites. HPLC-PDA analysis quantified syringic acid, 3-OH benzoic acid, t-ferullic acid, naringin, and epicatechin in a significant amount. All of the studied extracts/fractions displayed significant antioxidant capability, with methanol extract exhibiting the highest radical-scavenging activity, as measured by an inhibitory percentage of 81.4 ± 0.7 and an IC50 value of 1.3 ± 0.3. For enzyme inhibition experiments, the n-hexane fraction was shown to be highly potent against xanthine oxidase and urease enzymes, with respective IC50 values of 2.3 ± 0.5 and 1.1 ± 0.4 mg/mL. Similarly, the methanol extract demonstrated the strongest activity against the carbonic anhydrase enzyme, with an IC50 value of 2.2 ± 0.4 mg/mL. Moreover, all the studied extracts/fractions presented moderate antibacterial potential against seven bacterial strains. Molecular docking of the five molecules ß-amyrin, campesterol, ergosta-4,6,22-trien-3ß-ol, stigmasterol, and caryophyllene revealed the interaction of these ligands with the investigated enzyme (xanthine oxidase). The results of the present study suggested that the N. procumbens plant may be evaluated as a possible source of bioactive compounds with multifunctional therapeutic applications.

Phytochemical profiling, in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic potential of Sesuvium sesuvioides (Fenzl) Verdc. (Aizoaceae).

Sesuvium sesuvioides (Fenzl) Verdc is traditionally used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and gout The aim of present study was to assess the possible anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic potential of the methanol extract of Sesuvium sesuvioides (SsCr) to prove scientifically its folklore use in the inflammatory diseases and to screen its total antioxidant capacity by multiple methods and phytocompounds by GC-MS. The preliminary phytochemical studies showed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, glycosides, coumarin, terpenoids, saponins, fats and carbohydrates in crude extract. The total phenolic contents (27.31 ± 0.28 mg GAE/g) and total flavonoids (3.58 ± 0.12 mgRE/g) values were observed. The antioxidant capacity of SsCr showed significant DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC, FRAP, PBD and metal chelating results. GC-MS analysis displayed the phytoconstituents with anti-inflammatory potentials such as 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, vanillin, umbelliferone, methyl ferulate, palmitoleic acid, methyl palmitate and phytol. SsCr presented noteworthy HRBC membrane stability with maximum inhibition of cell hemolysis (47.79%). In carrageenan-induced hind paw edema assay result showed dose-dependent anti-inflammatory action. SsCr presented significant (p < 0.05) analgesic activity in hot-plate and tail flicking tests similarly it also showed the noteworthy inhibition in pain latency against formalin induced analgesia at 1st and 2nd phases. SsCr reduced the acetic acid-induced writhes at different doses (250, 500 and 750 mg). Results of antipyretic activity of SsCr extract were significant at 500 and 750 mg. The results of in vitro and in vivo experimental studies verified the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic potential of Sesuvium sesuvioides and supported the folklore uses of this plant.

Insight on the fractionations and structural characterizations of innovative antidiarrheal compounds screened from leaves of Psidium guajava of local origin in Pakistan.

Numerous ailments have been effectively treated with natural plants for long time all over the world. Plants provided a back bone for the exploration of novel medicinal compounds. Therefore, chief focus of our study was to isolate the biologically active compounds from the plant source and evaluate their antidiarrheal potentials, as diarrhea is still the most dominant disease in developing countries. The isolation and structure elucidation of two new compounds were identified from methanolic and chloroform extracts of Psidium guajava (guava) leaves. Extracts of plants were acquired by successive maceration from dried powder. Castor oil induced diarrheal-model was used to evaluate the antidiarrheal activity and therapeutic response was endorsed to the suppression of normal and wet stools in Spraug Dawley rats. Through the series of fractionations, compound-A was obtained from methanolic extract and named 3-(4-amino 1,3,8-tri-OH 5,6-di-CH3 7-propyl 1,2,3,4,4a,5,8,8a-octahydronaphthalen 2-yl) propanoic3-(4-NH3 7-butyl 1,3,8-tri-OH 5,6-di-CH3 1,2,3,4,4a,5,8,8a-octahydronaphthalen 2-yl)propanoic anhydride. Compound-B was entitled 5-(3-hydroxy-1,4-di-CH3-1,2,3,4,4a,5,8,8a-octahydronaphthalen-2-yl)pent-3-enoic acid was acquired from the chloroform extract. The structure elucidations of both compounds were interpreted through spectroscopic data, including EI-MS, FTIR, 1HNMR and 13C-NMR. The significant antidiarrheal activities were determined with crude extracts and isolated compounds. In inference, present study revealed that substantial antidiarrheal feature of guava is confined to the identified compounds.

In vitro cytotoxic, antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal activity of Saussurea heteromalla indigenous to Pakistan.

Medicinal plants are proven to reveal vast promising potential providing novel drug candidates to combat health-related problems. The aim of current study is to discover new drug compounds with anti-anticancer, antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal potential, to serve the purpose Saussurea heteromalla (Family: Asteraceae) indigenous to Pakistan was screened for the in vitro cytotoxicity against HeLa cells (Human cervical cancer cell line) compared to the NIH / 3T3 cells (mouse normal fibroblast cells) by performing the MTT colorimetric assay and antifungal, antibacterial and antioxidant potential by adopting standard protocols. S. heteromalla crude methanolic extract (CME) demonstrated strong cytotoxic potential against HeLa cells at 200µg/mL; (77.28 ±1.53% kill; IC50: 62.13µg/mL) compared to standard doxorubicin (95.90% kill; IC50: 0.2µg/mL). Inhibitory Zone of the extract at concentrations (30, 60, 90µg/mL) against Bacillus subtilis, Serratia marecescens, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Strptotropomonas maltophilia, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata was measured. Manifestation of intensified results against Gram-negative Serratia marecescens qualifies the S. heteromalla extract as a considerable source of narrow spectrum antibiotic. However, antifungal activity against C. albicans was found to be logical. Antioxidant potential was determined through DPPH assay which declared no notable antioxidant effects. To the best of our knowledge this is first research and report on above mentioned biological studies of S. heteromalla.