Abstract
The genus Minthostachys belonging to the Lamiaceae family, and is an important South American mint genus used commonly in folk medicine as an aroma in cooking. The phytochemical-rich samples of the aerial parts of Minthostachys diffusa Epling. were tested for pharmacological and health-promoting bioactivities using in vitro chemical and enzymatic assays. A range of radical scavenging activities of the samples against biological radicals such as nitric oxide and superoxide anion and against synthetic 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radicals, the ferric reducing antioxidant power and the lipid peroxidation inhibition were determined and ranked using the ‘relative antioxidant capacity index’ (RACI). The ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest RACI of +1.12. Analysis of the various fractions’ inhibitory ability against enzymes involved in diabetes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase), and against enzymes associated with Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases (acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase) also suggested that the ethyl acetate fraction was the most active. Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the ethyl acetate fraction showed more than 30 polyphenolic compounds, including triterpenes. The inhibitory cholinesterase effects of the triterpenes identified from M. diffusa were further analysed by in silico docking of these compounds into 3D-structures of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase. This is the first study on pharmacological activities and phytochemical profiling of the aerial parts of M. diffusa, showing that this plant, normally used as food in South America, is also rich in health-promoting phytochemicals.
Highlights
Plant metabolism produces numerous secondary metabolites that are very specific to each plant family and do not participate directly in the growth and development of the plant and [1,2]
The exhaustive extraction of aerial parts of M. diffusa in the 96% ethanol showed a yield of 12.30 ±
The capacity of the M. diffusa samples to inhibit enzymes, namely α-amylase and α-glucosidase that are involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes, were tested and the results show a concentration-dependent inhibition (Figure 4)
Summary
Plant metabolism produces numerous secondary metabolites (phytochemicals) that are very specific to each plant family and do not participate directly in the growth and development of the plant and [1,2]. Phytochemicals are known to possess a wide range of properties including antioxidant, hypoglycaemic, anticholinesterase, hypolipidemic, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities as comprehensively reviewed by Pinakin et al 2020 and. Plants are considered an important natural source for therapeutic applications with well-known ethnomedical uses in literature, yet they have been poorly investigated from the phytochemical point of view as exemplified by a recent review on the genus Tragopogon of Asteraceae family [5]. There have been numerous research studies on Minthostachys oils to provide scientific evidences on their medicinal properties [8,9,10,11]. The main components of Minthostachys verticillata (M. verticillata) essential oil, namely pulegone (63.4%), menthone (15.9%), and limonene (2.1%), have been linked immediate-type allergic reactions in vitro and in vivo [8]. Montironi et al (2016) have shown the bactericidal efficacy of M. verticillata essential oil against Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from bovine mastitis [9], while the essential oil of Minthostachys mollis (M. mollis) that largely contained pulegone (55.2%) and trans-menthone (31.5%) showed significant efficacy against Gram-positive and
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