Abstract
Ficus glumosa Delile (Moraceae), a reputed plant that is used in herbal medicine, is of high medicinal and nutritional value in local communities primarily ascribed to its phytochemical profile. Currently, there are hardly any fine details on the chemical profiling and pharmacological evaluation of this species. In this study, the flavonoids and phenolics contents of the ethanol extracts and four extracted fractions (petroleum ether (PE), ethyl acetate (EA), n-butanol, and water) of the stem bark of Ficus glumosa were firstly quantified. Further, their antioxidant and antiproliferative potentials were also evaluated. The quantitative determination indicated that the EA and n-butanol fractions possessed the highest total flavonoids/phenolics levels of 274.05 ± 0.68 mg RE/g and 78.87 ± 0.97 mg GAE/g, respectively. Similarly, for the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, the EA fraction exhibited high potency in both DPPH and ABTS+ scavenging activities with IC50 values of 0.23 ± 0.03 mg/mL, 0.22 ± 0.03 mg/mL, and FRAP potential of 2.81 ± 0.01 mg Fe2+/g, respectively. Furthermore, the EA fraction displayed high cytotoxicity against human lung (A549) and colon (HT-29) cancer cells. Additionally, the liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was employed in order to characterize the chemical constituents of the EA fraction of Ficus glumosa stem bark. Our findings revealed 16 compounds from the EA fraction that were possibly responsible for the strong antioxidant and anti-proliferative properties. This study provides edge-cutting background information on the exploitation of Ficus glumosa as a potential natural antioxidant and anti-cancer remedy.
Highlights
Ficus glumosa (Moraceae), which is referred to as ‘African rock fig’, is a mediumsized tree, indigenous in semi-tropical and tropical African countries, and parts of WestAsia [1]
The total flavonoids and phenolics compositions (TFC & Total Phenolic Content (TPC)) in Ficus glumosa ethanol extracts and fractions were determined while using two equations that were obtained from standard calibration curves: y = 1.535x − 0.0335, R2 = 0.9982 for Total Flavonoid Content (TFC), and y = 1.9908x − 0.0202, R2 = 0.9993 for TPC
For TFC (Figure 1a), the ethyl acetate (EA) fraction exhibited the highest content of 274.05 ± 0.68 mg of rutin equivalents per gram (mg RE/g), followed by n-butanol fraction with
Summary
It is a reputed species in African Traditional Medicine (ATM) for millennia and it serves a multipurpose use as food, healing diseases/ailments, and dye production. The leaves are boiled or eaten raw as vegetables in northern Nigeria [2], whilst the latex and figs as folk remedies, and the bark is used in the production of dye in the Southern, Eastern, and Western African countries [3]. Pharmaceuticals 2021, 14, 266 complications [7]. In Kenya, local communities use it for therapeutics and alimentation, for example, the figs are eaten as wild fruits and the latex is used to treat cancer complications and epilepsy [9]
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