Abstract
Hypercholesterolemia-induced oxidative stress has been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, which is one of the major causes of mortality worldwide. The current work, for the first time, accounts the antioxidant, genoprotective, antilipoperoxidative, and HMG-CoA reductase (EC 1.1.1.34) inhibitory properties of traditional medicinal plant, Ficus palmata Forsk. Our result showed that among sequentially extracted fractions of Ficus palmata Forsk, FPBA (F. palmata bark aqueous extract) and FPLM (F. palmata leaves methanolic extract) extracts have higher phenolic content and also exhibited significantly more radical scavenging (DPPH and Superoxide) and antioxidant (FRAP) capacity. Moreover, FPBA extract also exhibited significantly higher inhibition of lipid peroxidation assay. Additionally, results showed almost complete and partial protection of oxidatively damaged DNA by these plant extracts when compared to mannitol. Furthermore, our results showed that FPBA extract (IC50 = 9.1 ± 0.61 µg/mL) exhibited noteworthy inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase activity as compared to other extracts, which might suggest its role as cardioprotective agent. In conclusion, results showed that FPBA extract not only possess significant antioxidant and genoprotective property but also is able to attenuate the enzymatic activity of HMG-CoA reductase, which might suggest its role in combating various oxidative stress-related diseases, including atherosclerosis.
Highlights
Hypercholesterolemia and its induced oxidative stress are considered to be one of the major contributors in progression of atherosclerosis [1]
Studies have reported that elevated lipid level, like total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and a decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are directly associated with hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis [6]
The preliminary phytochemical screening of F. palmata leaves MeOH extract (FPLM) and F. palmata bark aqueous extract (FPBA) extract showed the presence of tannins, terpenoids, saponins, phenols, carbohydrate, flavanoids, protein, glycosides, and reducing sugar, while F. palmata leaves aqueous extract (FPLA) and F. palmata leaves EtOAc extract (FPLE) extract revealed the above constituents except tannins and terpenoids (Table 1)
Summary
Hypercholesterolemia and its induced oxidative stress are considered to be one of the major contributors in progression of atherosclerosis [1]. Treatment and management of hyperlipidemia include dietary changes, weight loss, and use of hypolipidemic drugs. These oral medications have certain limitation and side effects [10]. Naturally derived therapeutic agents are in high demand for the treatment of hyperlipidemia and cholesterol-induced oxidative stress as BioMed Research International well as atherosclerosis. Since other Ficus species like F. benghalensis [21], F. carica [22], and F. virens [14] are known to possess antioxidant and other pharmacological properties, the present study was initially projected to illustrate the antioxidant, genoprotective, and antilipoperoxidative as well as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitory properties of various sequentially extracted fractions of F. palmata. Folin-Ciocalteu’s reagent (FCR) [24] and expressed as μg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) in mg dry weight of extract
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