Abstract
Vernonia squarrosa (D. Don) Less. (Asteraceae) is an ethnomedicinally important plant of unexplored medicinal potential. The Hydro-Methanolic Leaf Extract (HMLE) reveals presence of alkaloids, terpenoid, tannins, phenols, flavonoids, saponins and also cardiac glycosides with notable amount of phenol, flavonoid, ? carotene and lycopene. The high antioxidant activity of HMLE when assessed by 2, 2 diphenyl 1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) shows significant EC50 value of 11.63 ± 2.60 µg/ml. Photo-protection efficiency of HMLE was determined and expressed as Sun Protection Factor (SPF). Reasonably high SPF value of 38 (SPF=38 at 200 µg/ml) provides UV blockage up to 98%. HMLE extract was also screened for antibacterial activity against four human pathogenic bacterial strains, Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 2940), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 2453), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 441), Escherichia coli (MTCC 739). Results showed prominent antibacterial impact on these tested bacteria. Lupeol, a pentacyclic triterpenoid was found to be present as a dominant member in Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of HMLE. Lupeol is a pentacyclic triterpenoid compound with diverse pharmaceutical applications. This is the maiden report of bioactive compounds from V. squarrosa highlighting their antibacterial, photoprotective and antioxidant activities.
Highlights
This study was carried out to evaluate the bioactivity of V. squarrosa because to the best of the knowledge of the authors, no investigation was executed till regarding phytochemical value, antioxidant potentiality and photoprotective ability
We found potential photoprotective, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the leaf extract V. squarrosa and from these findings an inference can be made that the presence of lupeol and other compounds may responsible for these biological properties of V
This is the first time we report the exploration of bioactive compounds from Hydro Methanolic Leaf Extract of V. squarrosa, for their photoprotective, antibacterial and antioxidant activities
Summary
Inflorescence capitulum, 3-4 flowers are arranged in axillary or terminal position It is a little known, unexplored plant found mostly in the Chotanagpur plateau (Adjacent parts of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh) in India. It has several ethnomedicinal properties, out of which antimicrobial, ascarcidal, luxation is established. Majority of its medicinal properties is yet to be revealed in details These plants belong to an evolutionary advanced family Asteraceae which has notable medicinally important members. Fruits and or seeds of V. squarrosa plant were reported to be broadly used as the medicine of Diarrhea [2]. Previous reports are there on antimicrobial efficacy of aqueous and methanolic leaf extracts of the plant on two pathogenic gram negative bacteria, Vibrio cholerae (MTCC 3904) and Shigella dysenteriae (Medical isolates) [5]
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