In vitro anticoagulant and antioxidant activities of Jatropha gossypiifolia L. (Euphorbiaceae) leaves aiming therapeutical applications

Abstract

BackgroundJatropha gossypiifolia L. (Euphorbiaceae) is a medicinal plant largely used in folk medicine. Teas from the leaves are popularly used as an antithrombotic agent and the branches are frequently employed as a "thick blood" agent. Considering that the anticoagulant activity associated with antioxidant properties could be beneficial for various cardiovascular diseases, this study’s aim is the evaluation of anticoagulant and antioxidant activities of J. gossypiifolia leaves, seeking new therapeutic purposes for this plant.MethodsThe aqueous leaf crude extract (CE) was prepared by decoction and was fractionated by liquid-liquid partition with solvents of increasing polarity. The phytochemical analysis was performed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and by the spectrophotometric quantification of sugars, proteins and phenolic compounds. The anticoagulant activity was evaluated by prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) tests. The capacity to act in the fibrinolytic system (fibrinolytic and fibrinogenolytic activities) was also assessed. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by total antioxidant capacity, reducing power, copper chelating activity, iron chelating activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and superoxide radical scavenging assays. The potential toxicity was evaluated using hemolytic assay and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay on HEK-293 cells.ResultsCE showed significant anticoagulant activity in aPTT test, while no action was observed in PT test, suggesting a preferential action toward the intrinsic and/or common pathway of coagulation. No effect was observed in the fibrinolytic system. Using the aPTT test, it was observed that the residual aqueous (RA) fraction was the most active, being two times more active than CE. RA presented very significant antioxidant activity in all models tested comparable to or even higher than CE. Regarding the safety, CE and RA did not produce significant cytotoxicity in both tests employed. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, proteins, tannins, steroids and/or terpenoids and sugars.ConclusionsCE and RA possessed significant anticoagulant and antioxidant activity and absence of cytotoxic effect in vitro, thus showing the potential of the plant, especially RA fraction, as a new source of bioactive molecules for therapeutic purposes, with particular emphasis on the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Total Phenolic Contents and Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Different Parts of Jatropha Species

“…For ultrasound-assisted extraction, all the parts of Jatropha species showed higher percentages of inhibition and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity than the maceration extraction and the results are shown in Table-1. These results agreed with the studies elsewhere, as in fact solvent system, extraction process and drying temperature could effect on the recovery of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity [4]. The highest antioxidant activity was detected in the roots of J. gossypiifolia and in the leaves of J. curcas and in the barks of J. curcas as a lowest antioxidant activity.…”

“…Most of the researchers investigated the antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTH, FRAP, etc. ), phenolic content, and others bioactivities of different parts of Jatropha [4][5][6][7]9,10]. On the contrary, few studies have focused on leaves [4,8,[15][16][17], roots [17], fruits [18] and others parts [19][20][21] of Jatropha.…”

“…), phenolic content, and others bioactivities of different parts of Jatropha [4][5][6][7]9,10]. On the contrary, few studies have focused on leaves [4,8,[15][16][17], roots [17], fruits [18] and others parts [19][20][21] of Jatropha. However, some studies suggested that leaves exhibited higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity as against to others parts due to phenolic compounds [15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

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“…After chilling, filtering is done using Whitman paper no 1. The filtrate obtained is evaporated at 50°C until it reaches a volume of 10% of the initial volume [9]. Furthermore, freeze-drying is done to get the dried powder of soursop leaf water extract [10].…”

Traditional uses and seed chemical composition of Jatropha spp. (Euphorbiaceae) in Tehuacán-Cuicatlán, México

“…The active ingredients of the latex of several species have been demonstrated to be hemostatic (Osoniyi & Onajobi, 2003;Oduola, Adeosun, Oduola, Avwioro, & Oyeniyi, 2005), antibacterial (Aiyelaagbe, Adesogan, Ekundayo, & Adeniyi, 2000;Canales et al, 2005), antifungal (Hamza et al, 2006), anti-malarial and anti-parasitic (Baraguey, Blond, Correia, Pousset, Bodo, & Auvin-Guette, 2000), and insecticidal (Bullangpoti, Khumrungsee, Pluempanupat, Kainoh, & Saguanpong, 2011). Extensive reviews in medicinal purposes have been documented for J. curcas (Reddy-Prasad, Izam, & Rahman-Khanwe, 2012) and for J. gossypiipholia (Félix-Silva et al, 2014).…”