ABSTRACT
The present study used in vitro and in silico techniques, as well as the metabolomics approach to char-acterise α-glucosidase inhibitors from different fractions of Clinacanthus nutans. C. nutans is a medicinal plant belonging to the Acanthaceae family, and is traditionally used to treat diabetes in Malaysia. n-Hexane, n-hexane: ethyl acetate (1:1, v/v), ethyl acetate, ethyl acetate: methanol (1:1, v/v), and methanol fractions were obtained via partitioning of the 80％ methanolic crude extract. The in vitro α-glucosidase inhibitory activity was analyzed using all the fractions collected, followed by profiling of the metabolites using liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. The partial least square (PLS) statistical model was developed using the SIMCA P +14.0 software and the following four inhibitors were obtained:(1) 4,6,8-Megastigmatrien-3-one; (2) N-Isobutyl-2-nonen-6,8-diynamide; (3) 1′,2′-bis(acetyloxy)-3′,4′-didehydro-2′-hydro-β, ψ-carotene; and (4) 22-acetate-3-hydroxy-21-(6-methyl-2,4-octadienoate)-olean-12-en-28-oic acid. The in silico study performed via molecular docking with the crystal structure of yeast isomaltase (PDB code: 3A4A) involved a hydrogen bond and some hydrophobic interactions be-tween the inhibitors and protein. The residues that interacted include ASN259, HID295, LYS156, ARG335, and GLY209 with a hydrogen bond, while TRP15, TYR158, VAL232, HIE280, ALA292, PRO312, LEU313, VAL313, PHE314, ARG315, TYR316, VAL319, and TRP343 with other forms of bonding.
ABSTRACT
Withania somnifera (L) Dunal is a well known Indian medicinal plant widely used in the treatment of many clinical conditions in India. It is an important drug commonly known as Asgand which has been used either single or in combination with other drugs in Unani as well as Ayurvedic system of medicine for centuries. It has been described by Dioscorides (78 AD) in his book “Kitab-ul-Hashaish”. Asgand consists of the roots of Withania somnifera which has various therapeutic actions such as anti-inflammatory (Muhallil-e-Warm), sedative (Musakkin), alterative (Muaddil) and aphrodisiac (Muqawwi-e-Bah). Keeping in view the medicinal properties of Withania somnifera Dunal (Asgand), an attempt has been made in this review paper to explore various dimensions of the drug including phytochemical and pharmacological studies carried out on this drug.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate antibacterial potential of Trifolium alexandrinum (T. alexandrinum) Linn. against seven gram positive and eleven gram negative hospital isolated human pathogenic bacterial strains responsible for many tropical diseases. Methods: Non-polar and polar extracts of the leaves of T. alexandrinum i.e., hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), methanol (MeOH) and aqueous (AQ) extracts at five different concentrations (1, 2, 5, 10 and 15 mg/mL) were prepared to evaluate their antibacterial value. NCCL standards were strictly followed to perform antimicrobial disc susceptibility test using disc diffusion method. Results: Polar extracts demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against tested pathogens. EtOAc and MeOH extracts showed maximum antibacterial activity with higher inhibition zone and were found effective against seventeen of the tested pathogens. While AQ plant extract inhibited the growth of sixteen of the test strains. EtOAc and MeOH plant extracts inhibited the growth of all seven gram positive and ten of the gram negative bacterial strains. Conclusions: The present study strongly confirms the effectiveness of crude leaves extracts against tested human pathogenic bacterial strains causing several tropical diseases. Since Egyptian clover is used as a fodder plant, it could be helpful in controlling various infectious diseases associated with cattle as well.