Unveiling the phytochemical and pharmacological potential of Mimusops maxima (Poiret) Vaughan-an endemic plant with potential therapeutic effects

Abstract

Mimusops maxima (Poiret) Vaughan is an endemic plant of Mauritius Island that has never been studied for neither its phytochemical nor pharmacological properties. Hence this study targeted to extract the phytochemicals using three different solvents and characterizion them through HPLC-MS-MS, alongside investigating their effects against chronic diseases. The methanolic extract beared the highest total phenolic and total flavonoid composition, (31.10 ± 0.25 gallic acid equivalents/gram (GAE/g) and 38.68 ± 0.34 rutin equivalent (mgRE/g)), respectively), succeeded by the ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts. The antioxidant assay demonstrated that the methanolic extract had the highest potency in terms of antioxidant potential. The most potent acetylcholinesterase enzyme inhibitor was the ethyl acetate extract (4.78 ± 0.28 mg GALAE/g) followed by the methanolic extract (4.48 ± 0.05 mgGALAE/g). The most inhibition of the tyrosinase enzyme was generated by the methanolic extract (122.53 ± 2.72 mg KAE/g),the ethyl acetate extract and aqueous extracts (113.96 ± 1.53 and 6.19 ± 0.30 mg KAE/g, respectively) followed and were behind the methanolic extract. The methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts can be formulated as tissanes and extracts as health supplements as a prophylaxis measure for non-communicable diseases pending further toxicological investigations.