Multiple pharmacological approaches on Fibigia eriocarpa extracts by in vitro and computational assays

Abstract

The ethyl acetate, methanolic, and water extracts of Fibigia eriocarpa were assessed for a panoply of bioactivities. Total phenolic and flavonoid content were quantified as well as individual phenolic compounds by HPLC-DAD. The in vitro antioxidant and enzyme (acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), tyrosinase, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase) inhibitory potential of the extracts were evaluated. In silico molecular docking was used to investigate possible interaction between dominant compounds and selected enzymes. Vanillin (303 μg/g extract), apigenin (270 μg/g extract), and kaempferol (180 μg/g extract) were the main compounds in the ethyl acetate extract, while the methanolic extract was characterized by the presence of vanillin, rutin, and apigenin (616, 616 and 252 μg/g extract, respectively). (+)-catechin (1422 μg/g extract) was the main compound in the water extracts. The ethyl acetate extract was found to be a superior source of antioxidant compounds and enzyme inhibitors against above-mentioned enzymes. Docking studies revealed that p-hydroxybenzoic and (+)-catechin have the best scores for tyrosinase, while kaempferol and apigenin showed the best binding pose for α-glucosidase, AChE, and BChE. Results amassed herein are the first report on the phytochemical and biological attributes of F. eriocarpa, which tend to validate the pharmacological uses of this plant as an alternative medicine.

Chemical Characterization and Bioactive Properties of Different Extracts from Fibigia clypeata, an Unexplored Plant Food

“…Moreover, the increased public interest towards naturally derived products, including cosmetic and dermatological products, has fueled the need for natural tyrosinase inhibitors. Another species of the Fibigia genus, namely F. eriocarpa, was previously reported to inhibit tyrosinase [16]. In contrast to our present findings, the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of F. eriocarpa were not active on tyrosinase.…”

“…Both the ethyl acetate (3.54 mg GALAE/g) and methanol (3.52 mg GALAE/g) extracts showed comparable inhibition against butyrylcholinesterase. In our previous study, the best cholinesterase inhibition abilities of F. eriocarpa were reported for ethyl acetate (2.12 mg GALAE/g for AChE and 2.01 mg GAELAE/g for BChE) and methanol (1.83 mg GALAE/g for AChE and 1.08 mg GALAE/g for BChE) extracts [16]. Based on these values, the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of F. clypeata were stronger than F. eriocarpa.…”

“…Besides, a strong correlation coefficient ( p < 0.01) of 0.809 was found between the two different assays ( Supplementary Material Table S1 ). In our previous study on F. eriocarpa [ 16 ], the highest total phenolic level was determined in ethyl acetate extract (41.87 mg GAE/g), followed methanol (35.42 mg GAE/g) and water (33.63 mg GAE/g). Similar to current results, methanol extract (24 mg RE/g) of F. eriocarpa contained the highest level of flavonoids.…”

“…However, the antioxidant abilities of the water extract of F. clypeata were stronger than that of F. eriocarpa. [16] Besides, different levels for antioxidant properties in some Brassicaceae species have been reported in the literature [40][41][42]. At this point, the chemical profiles of the extracts were closely related to their antioxidant properties.…”

“…Usually, after overnight incubation, the absorbance was measured at 2 wavelengths-540 and 620 nm. The succinate dehydrogenase activity was correlated with the metabolic activity of the cells allowing to assess the viability of the cells [16]. The stock solutions were obtained by dissolving the samples in DMSO (50 mg/mL) and sterilized using syringe filters (0.2 µm).…”