Hydroalcoholic extract: A potential source from Azadirachta indica a Juss flower for DNA and BSA binding, scavenging, fungicidal, and larvicidal activities

Abstract

The present study focuses on the evaluation of the DNA and BSA binding capability, anti‐fungal, metal chelation, and larvicidal activity of extracts of Azadirachta indica A Juss flower. The different extracts of A. indica was prepared by soxhlet extraction using Petroleum Ether (PE), acetone (AC), and hydroalcohol (HA) as solvents. DNA and BSA binding ability of HA extract was calculated through the UV–Visible titrimetric method. The phytochemicals present in the extract show good binding ability towards DNA and BSA. H2O2 and NO scavenging activity were evaluated and HA extracts shows good antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 62 and 48 μg/mg, respectively. The metal chelating property was calculated, where HA shows good chelating ability with the IC50 value of 32.23 μg/mg. The antifungal activity of these extracts was evaluated against different fungal stains; among them, hydroalcoholic extract shows a higher zone of inhibition in all the fungal stains than Petroleum Ether and acetone extracts and acetone extracts (i.e., 50 μg/μL MIC). The potential extract (i.e., HA extract) was used to estimate the larvicidal activity of parasites. The % of mortality was evaluated through a dose‐dependent assay and it is confirmed that when concentration increases, the mortality rate increases. The correlation between metal chelating activity and total flavonoid and phenolic content was calculated and it was found that there is a good correlation (R2 – .743 and .902, respectively). These results proved that HA extract possesses biologically important phytochemicals that contribute to pharmaceutical and biological activities and could be a natural remedy for various real‐time applications.