Traditionally Used Lathyrus Species: Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant Activity, Enzyme Inhibitory Properties, Cytotoxic Effects, and in silico Studies of L. czeczottianus and L. nissolia.

Eulogio J Llorent-Martínez,Gokalp O Guler,Abdurrahman Aktumsek,Gokhan Zengin,Arzu Atalay,Sengul Uysal,Andrei Mocan,Ramazan Ceylan,Onur Bender,Adriano Mollica,María L Fernández-De Córdova

doi:10.3389/fphar.2017.00083

Abstract

Members of the genus Lathyrus are used as food and as traditional medicines. In order to find new sources of biologically-active compounds, chemical and biological profiles of two Lathyrus species (L. czeczottianus and L. nissolia) were investigated. Chemical profiles were evaluated by HPLC-ESI-MSn, as well as by their total phenolic and flavonoid contents. In addition, antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory, and cytotoxic effects were also investigated. Antioxidant properties were tested by using different assays (DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC, FRAP, phosphomolybdenum, and metal chelation). Cholinesterases (AChE and BChE), tyrosinase, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase were used to evaluate enzyme inhibitory effects. Moreover, vitexin (apigenin-8-C-glucoside) and 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid were further subjected to molecular docking experiments to provide insights about their interactions at molecular level with the tested enzymes. In vitro cytotoxic effects were examined against human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293) by using iCELLigence real time cell analysis system. Generally, L. czeczottianus exhibited stronger antioxidant properties than L. nissolia. However, L. nissolia had remarkable enzyme inhibitory effects against cholinesterase, amylase and glucosidase. HPLC-ESI-MSn analysis revealed that flavonoids were major components in these extracts. On the basis of these results, Lathyrus extracts were rich in biologically active components; thus, these species could be utilized to design new phytopharmaceutical and nutraceutical formulations.

Highlights

With recent advances in science, the therapeutic properties of plants have gained importance all over the world, due to their pharmacological activities and nutraceuticals properties (Krishnaiah et al, 2011)
The analysis of the phenolic composition in aerial parts of L. czeczottianus and L. nissolia was performed by HPLC-ESIMSn using the negative ionization mode
The initial step for the characterization of the phenolic compounds consisted in the determination of the molecular weight of each compound

Summary

Introduction

With recent advances in science, the therapeutic properties of plants have gained importance all over the world, due to their pharmacological activities (antioxidant, anti-cancer, antiinflammatory, antimicrobials, etc.) and nutraceuticals properties (Krishnaiah et al, 2011). Considering the importance of different Lathyrus species, as previously mentioned, the general aim of this research is to improve the knowledge about lessknown Lathyrus plants. In this direction, this study was designed to investigate: (i) the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts of L. czeczottianus and L. nissolia using various in vitro biochemical assays, (ii) the enzyme inhibitory potentials (anti-cholinesterase, anti-amylase, anti-glucosidase, and antityrosinase), (iii) the cytotoxicity in human embryonic kidney cells using the real time cellular impedance technology, (iv) the characterization of phytochemical compounds in the methanolic extracts by HPLC-ESI-MS, (v) and the components-enzymes interactions with in-silico techniques.

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Conclusion