Abstract
The present work was aimed at investigating hydroethanolic leaf extracts of Cassia fistula for their antioxidant and pancreatic lipase (PL) enzyme inhibitory properties. The most active extract was selected to profile the phytoconstituents by UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS technique. Among the tested extracts, the 80% hydroethanolic extract exhibited the maximum levels of total phenolic and flavonoid contents (TPC and TFC) with a contribution of 201.3 ± 2.6 mg of gallic acid equivalent per gram of extract (GAE/g extract), and 116.3 ± 2.4 mg of rutin equivalent per gram of extract (RE/g extract), respectively. The same extract also showed promising 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and PL inhibitory activity with an IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) of 30.5 ± 2.8 µg/mL and 17.31 ± 1.18 μg/mL, respectively. The phytochemical profiling of 80% hydroethanolic extract confirmed the presence of 23 metabolites of immense medicinal significance. Docking studies were conducted to investigate the potential interactions of compounds identified in the study. The docking study-based binding energy data and the interaction scheme both revealed the possible role of the identified compounds towards PL inhibitor. Moreover, energies of frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), ionization potentials (IP), electron affinities (EA) and molecular electrostatic potentials (MEP) were also explored. The findings of the current work suggest that C. fistula is a promising natural source of antioxidant and antiobesity agents, which may be exploited to add pharmacological functionalities to food.
Highlights
Obesity is one of the leading global health problems that enhances risks of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, metabolic syndrome, strokes, hypertension, mental disorders and cancer [1,2]
Synthetic antioxidants like butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are used to treat oxidative stress, but the serious health deteriorating effects associated with these compounds provide impetus to explore natural sources of antioxidants with no or tolerable toxicity [14]
The slight variation could be attributable to the difference in polarities of the solvents used which alsoMpleaydiacniinmaplepraltaivnetrso/lhe einrbinscrheaasvineg tghaeisnoeludbilcitoynosfipdheyrtoacbolmepiomunpdosr[2ta9]n. ce, being ric therapeutic phytoconstituents that can lead to the development and formulat
Summary
Obesity is one of the leading global health problems that enhances risks of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, metabolic syndrome, strokes, hypertension, mental disorders and cancer [1,2]. Previous studies have indicated that medicinal plants can prevent or decrease oxidative deterioration of lipids, DNA and proteins, controlling neurodegenerative disorders [15]. Researchers have focused their interest on plant-based functional foods/nutraceuticals and phytopharmaceuticals for management of obesity and its related complications, as they exert numerous beneficial effects with fewer or no side effects [16]. Most studies have shown that plant-based functional foods could normalize food intake, lipid metabolism, energy expenditure and adipocyte lifecycle by regulation of genetic or epigenetic mechanisms [17]. Considering the well-reported medicinal usages of C. fistula, the present work was performed to explore the antioxidant and antiobesity effects of hydroethanolic C. fistula leaf extracts, which, in turn, might help the future formulation of antiobesity functional foods/phytopharmaceuticals with least/no adverse side effects.
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