In vitro pharmacological attributes and metabolite’s fingerprinting of Conocarpus lancifolius

Abstract

Search for safe antioxidants and novel nutraceuticals urged to evaluate the antioxidant, anti-acetylcholine esterase and anti-lipoxygenase activity of various leaf extracts of Conocarpus lancifolius. Extraction was optimized from freeze dried plant extracts quenched with liquid nitrogen using water, ethanol, methanol, hexane, ethyl acetate and chloroform. Maximum extract yield, total phenolic contents and total flavonoid contents were obtained in case of ethanolic extraction. The highest 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazylradical scavenging in terms of IC50 value of 55.26 μg/mL was observed for ethanolic leaf extract. The acetylcholine esterase and lipoxygenase inhibitory activities (IC50) were also observed for ethanolic extract. These findings for ethanolic extract were statistically significant when compared with other extracts (ρ<0.05). The haemolytic % values indicated that all extracts were associated with very low or negligible toxicity. The epicatechin, isorhamnetin, rutin, scopoleptin, skimmianine, quercetin-3-O-α-rhamnoside, quercetin-3-O-β-glucoside, cornoside, creatinine, choline, pyruvic acid, α-hydroxybutyric acid, phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin were identified as major functional metabolites in ethanolic leaf extract of C. lancifolius by 1H-NMR. The identified metabolites were probably responsible for the pharmacological properties of C. lancifolius. The findings may be utilized as pharmacological leads for drug development and food fortification.