Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity of a New Ferruginan A from Olea ferruginea: In Vitro and In Silico Studies.

Studies of the ethyl acetate extract bark extract of Olea ferruginea led to the isolation of one new compound Ferruginan A (1) in addition to two known compounds, Ferruginan (2) and cycloolivil (3). Structures of the isolated compounds were confirmed by mass spectrometry (MS) and NMR spectral data. The ethyl acetate fraction and compounds (1-3) were evaluated against breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and as antioxidants using the free radical scavenging assay. Results revealed that compound 2 exhibits significant antioxidant activity with an IC50 value of 21.74 µg/mL. In addition, the ethyl acetate fraction showed good cytotoxic activity (79.31% inhibition at 250 µg/mL), whereas compounds 1-3 exerted mild cytotoxic activity (IC50 = 8.03-12.01 µg/mL) as compared to the standard (IC50 = 4.41 µg/mL) against MCF-7. Docking studies suggested that antioxidant activity is due to the chelation of compounds with copper present in the active site of tyrosinase. These results suggest that the extract exhibits considerable antioxidant activity, and the isolated compounds exert moderate anticancer activity.

Antispasmodic Potential of Medicinal Plants: A Comprehensive Review.

Numerous medicinal plants have been utilized for the treatment of different types of diseases and disorders including gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. GI diseases are the most common complaints that normally affects the largest proportion of children and adolescents with overlapping clinical manifestation in diagnosis and medical needs. Drugs with antispasmodic effects are normally applied for the symptomatic treatment of contraction and cramping of smooth muscles in gastrointestinal diseases as well as in other critical clinical situations. In alternative system of medicines, the antispasmodic herbs played a significant role in the cure of GI diseases. These medicinal plants and their herbal products are used from generation to generation because of multiple nutritional and therapeutic benefits. The multiple uses might be attributed to the presence on biologically active chemical constitutes. The main aim of this review is to focus on the medicinal potential of plants possessing antispasmodic activities with their proposed mechanism of action. Several databases such as Google Scholar, Cochrane database, Scopus, and PubMed were used to search the relevant literature regarding "plants with antispasmodic activities." This present study highlights the updated and quantified information on several medicinal plants with antispasmodic activity like Zanthoxylum armatum, Matricaria chamomilla, Foeniculum vulgare, Pycnocycla spinosa, Atropa belladonna, Lavandula angustifolia, Mentha pulegium, Glycyrrhiza ularensis, Anethum graveolens, and Origanum majorana. Moreover, recent studies on other medicinal plant species also have been included in this review article. Additionally, the study also revealed that the active compounds of all these plants possess significant spasmolytic effect which is safest, efficacious, and cost effective as compared to the available synthetic drugs.