Plants (Jun 2021)

Chemical Profiling, Pharmacological Insights and In Silico Studies of Methanol Seed Extract of <i>Sterculia foetida</i>

  • Najmul Alam,
  • Naureen Banu,
  • Md. Arfin Ibn Aziz,
  • Niloy Barua,
  • Umme Ruman,
  • Israt Jahan,
  • Farhana Jahan Chy,
  • Susmita Denath,
  • Arkajyoti Paul,
  • Md. Nazim Uddin Chy,
  • Mohammed Aktar Sayeed,
  • Talha Bin Emran,
  • Jesus Simal-Gandara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10061135
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 6
p. 1135

Abstract

Read online

Sterculia foetida, also known as jangli badam in Bangladesh, is a traditionally used plant that has pharmacological activities. A qualitative phytochemical analysis was performed to assess the metabolites in a methanolic extract of S. foetida seeds (MESF), and the cytotoxic, thrombolytic, anti-arthritics, analgesic, and antipyretic activities were examined using in vitro, in vivo, and in silico experiments. Quantitative studies were performed through gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis. The brine shrimp lethality bioassays and clot lysis were performed to investigate the cytotoxic and thrombolytic activities, respectively. The anti-arthritics activity was assessed using the albumin denaturation assay. Analgesic activity was determined using the acetic acid-induced writhing test and the formalin-induced paw-licking test. A molecular docking study was performed, and an online tool was used to perform ADME/T (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion/toxicity) and PASS (Prediction of Activity Spectra for Substances). GC-MS analysis identified 29 compounds in MESF, consisting primarily of phenols, terpenoids, esters, and other organic compounds. MESF showed moderate cytotoxic activity against brine shrimp and significant thrombolytic and anti-arthritics activities compared with the relative standards. The extract also showed a dose-dependent and significant analgesic and antipyretic activities. Docking studies showed that 1-azuleneethanol, acetate returned the best scores for the tested enzymes. These findings suggested that MESF represents a potent source of thrombolytic, anti-arthritic, analgesic, antipyretic agents with moderate cytotoxic effects.

Keywords