The Antioxidant and Immunomodulatory Potential of Coccoloba alnifolia Leaf Extracts.

Oxidative stress has been associated with different diseases, and different medicinal plants have been used to treat or prevent this condition. The leaf ethanolic extract (EE) and aqueous extract (AE) from Coccoloba alnifolia have previously been characterized to have antioxidant potential in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we worked with EE and AE and two partition phases, AF (ethyl acetate) and BF (butanol), from AE extract. These extracts and partition phases did not display cytotoxicity. The EE and AE reduced NO production and ROS in all three concentrations tested. Furthermore, it was observed that EE and AE at 500 µg/mL concentration were able to reduce phagocytic activity by 30 and 50%, respectively. A scratch assay using a fibroblast cell line (NHI/3T3) showed that extracts and fractions induced cell migration with 60% wound recovery within 24 h, especially for BF. It was also observed that AF and BF had antioxidant potential in all the assays evaluated. In addition, copper chelation was observed. This activity was previously not detected in AE. The HPLC-DAD analysis showed the presence of phenolic compounds such as p-cumaric acid and vitexin for extracts, while the GNPS annotated the presence of isoorientin, vitexin, kanakugiol, and tryptamine in the BF partition phase. The data presented here demonstrated that the EE, AE, AF, and BF of C. alnifolia have potential immunomodulatory effects, antioxidant effects, as well as in vitro wound healing characteristics, which are important for dynamic inflammation process control.

Antioxidant Activities of Commiphora leptophloeos (Mart.) J. B. Gillett) (Burseraceae) Leaf Extracts Using In Vitro and In Vivo Assays.

Commiphora leptophloeos is widely used in folk medicine without any scientific basis. Considering this, the aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical profile and the antioxidant activity of C. leptophloeos leaf extracts using in vitro and in vivo assays. Six extracts were obtained from fresh leaves using a serial extraction (nonpolar to polar solvents). These extracts were first evaluated with the presence of phytochemical compounds using the methods thin layer chromatography (TLC), ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-DAD), and high performance liquid chromatography, both with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Based on the compounds identified, it was used some bioinformatics tools in order to identify possible pathway and gene targets. After that, the antioxidant capacity from these extracts was analysed by in vitro assays and in vivo assays using Caenorhabditis elegans model. Phytochemical analyses showed the presence of polyphenols, such as rutin, vitexin, and quercetin diglycosides in all extracts, especially in ethanol extract (EE) and methanol extract (EM). Bioinformatics analysis showed these polyphenols linked to antioxidant pathways. Furthermore, EE and EM displayed a high antioxidant capacity in DPPH and superoxide radical scavenging assays. They also had no effect on cell viability for 3T3 nontumour cell. However, for B16-F10 tumour cell lines, these extracts had toxicity effect. In vivo assays using C. elegans N2 showed that EE was not toxic, and it did not affect its viability nor its development. Besides, EE increased worm survival under oxidative stress and reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels by 50%. Thus, C. leptophloeos EE displayed an important in vitro and in vivo antioxidant capacity. The EE extract has polyphenols, suggesting that these compounds may be responsible for a myriad of biological activities having this potential to be used in various biotechnological applications.

Coccoloba alnifolia Leaf Extract as a Potential Antioxidant Molecule Using In Vitro and In Vivo Assays.

The genus Coccoloba is widely used in traditional folk medicine, but few scientific data exist for this genus. The goal of this study was to characterise the chemical composition and antioxidant activities of C. alnifolia leaf extracts using in vitro and in vivo assays. Six extracts were obtained: hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), ethanol (EE), methanol (ME), water end extract (WEE), and water extract (WE). Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis showed the presence of phenols, saponins, terpenes, and flavonoids. In vitro assays demonstrated substantial antioxidant potential, especially for polar extracts (EE, ME, WEE, and WE). Moreover, no toxic effects were observed on mammalian cell lines for most of the extracts at the concentrations evaluated. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was also used as an in vivo model for testing antioxidant potential. The EE and WE were chosen, based on previously obtained results. It was observed that neither the EE nor the WE had any toxic effect on C. elegans development. Additionally, the antioxidant potential was evaluated using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as a stressor agent. The EE increased the life span of C. elegans by 28% compared to that of the control, and the WE increased the range to 39.2-41.3%. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD) showed the presence of gallic acid, p-coumaric acid, and vitexin in the WE. Therefore, in vitro and in vivo data demonstrated the antioxidant potential of C. alnifolia extracts and their possible biotechnological applications.