Abstract
Acacia saligna and Lawsonia inermis natural populations growing in Northern Saudi Arabia might be a valuable source of polyphenols with potent biological activities. Using high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), several polyphenols were detected tentatively in considerable amounts in the methanolic leaf extracts of A. saligna and L. inermis. A. saligna mainly contained rutoside, hyperoside, quercetin 3-glucuronide, gallic acid and p-coumaric acid, whereas those of L. inermis contained apigenin 5-glucoside, apigetrin and gallic acid. Strong antioxidant activities were found in the leaf extracts of both species due to the presence of hyperoside, quercetin 3-glucuronide, gallic acid, isoquercetin, p-coumaric acid, quercitrin and rutoside. A. saligna and L. inermis leaf extracts as well as hyperoside, apigenin 5-glucoside, and quercetin 3-glucuronide significantly reduced reactive oxygen species accumulation in all investigated cancer cells compared to the control. Methanolic leaf extracts and identified polyphenols showed antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities against cancer cells, which may be attributed to necrotic cell accumulation during apoptotic periods. Antibacterial activities were also found in both species leaf extracts and were twice as high in A. saligna than L. inermis due to the high composition of rutoside and other polyphenols. Finally, strong antifungal activities were detected, which were associated with specific phenols such as rutoside, hyperoside, apigenin 5-glucoside and p-coumaric acid. This is the first study exploring the polyphenolic composition of A. saligna and L. inermis natural populations in northern Saudi Arabia and aiming at the detection of their biological activities.
Highlights
Natural populations of medicinal plants are considered as important sources of natural compounds that may have bio/pharmacological activities
MTT and flow cytometry assays revealed that A. saligna and L. inermis leaf extracts have antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities against different cancer cells
These activities were attributed to the polyphenolic composition including rutoside, hyperoside, quercetin, quercetin 3-glucuronide and p-coumaric acid
Summary
Natural populations of medicinal plants are considered as important sources of natural compounds that may have bio/pharmacological activities. Plants 2020, 9, 908 plants and their products as nutritional supplements [1] Natural compounds such as polyphenols display interesting medicinal properties. These polyphenols may reduce certain age-associated diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease by mitigating increased cellular damage through the reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the down-regulation of antioxidant enzymes [2,3] and the modulation of the inflammatory status, autophagy function and gut microbiota [4]. Medicinal and aromatic plant polyphenols available in different parts of the plant (leaves, stems, flowers, seeds and bark) were successful in controlling foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus; human pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans; and plant pathogenic molds such as Penicillium funiculosum [6,13,14]
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