Volume 19, Issue 11 e202200521
Research Article

Total Bioactive Contents, Metabolic Profiling, Docking Studies, Antioxidant and Enzyme Inhibition Activities of Convolvulus Arvensis L. and Multivariate Analysis to Unravel a Potential Herb as Natural Resource for Pharmaceutical Industry

Muhammad Imran Tousif

Corresponding Author

Muhammad Imran Tousif

Department of Chemistry, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, 54000 Lahore, Pakistan

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Mamona Nazir

Mamona Nazir

Department of Chemistry, Government Sadiq Women College University, Bahawalpur, 63100-Bahawalpur Pakistan

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Muhammad Saleem

Muhammad Saleem

Division of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Baghdad-ul-Jadeed Campus, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100- Bahawalpur, Pakistan

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Saba Tauseef

Saba Tauseef

Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research., International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, 75270 Karachi, Pakistan

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Reaz Uddin

Reaz Uddin

Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research., International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, 75270 Karachi, Pakistan

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Gokhan Zengin

Corresponding Author

Gokhan Zengin

Department of Biology, Science Faculty, Selcuk University, 42130 Konya, Turkey

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Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally

Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally

Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Mauritius, Réduit, 80837 Mauritius

Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Department of Pharmacology, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Science, Chennai, 600077 India

Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520 South Africa

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Zaheer Abbas

Zaheer Abbas

Department of Botany, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, 54000 Lahore, Pakistan

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First published: 23 September 2022

Abstract

Convolvulus arvensis L. is an evergreen herb growing in various regions of Pakistan. Despite of several medicinal properties associated to this herb, it was not investigated scientifically for its bioactive compounds and detailed pharmaceutical properties. Therefore, its methanolic extract was divided into hexane (CA−H), chloroform (CA−C), ethyl acetate (CA−E) and butanol (CA−B) soluble fractions. CA−H and CA−C were found rich in phenolics (30.73±0.63 and 20.15±0.59 mg GAE/g of the extract, respectively), and the same fractions exhibited significant antioxidant activities (DPPH: 5.23±0.11 & 12.34±0.17 mg TE/g extract, respectively; ABTS: 36.82±0.04 & 56.74±0.61 mg TE/g extract, respectively). Also in CUPRAC activity assay, CA−H and CA−C exhibited highest activities as 87.30±0.46 and 56.74±0.61 mg TE/g extract, respectively, while CA−C was most active in FRAP activity assay with value of 40.21±2.19 mg TE/g extract. Total antioxidant capacity (1.23±0.033 mmol TE/g extract) was also found higher for CA−C, while CA−H activity was also comparable, however, CA−H showed higher metal chelating activity (22.74±0.001 mg EDTAE/g extract) than that of CA−C (17.55±0.22 mg EDTAE/g extract). These activities clearly revealed a direct relation between antioxidant potential and phenolic contents of CA−H and CA−C. In AChE and BChE inhibitory assay, CA−H and CA−E showed better inhibition (AChE: 8.24±0.77 & 4.46±0.007 mg GALAE/g extract; BChE: 5.40±0.02 & 1.92±0.24 mg GALAE/g extract) as compared to other fractions, whereas, against tyrosinase, CA−B was most active (37.35±0.53 mg KAE/g extract). CA−H and CA−C also showed higher inhibitory potential (0.98±0.08 & 0.58±0.01 mmol ACAE/g extract) against α-Amylase; while against α-Glucosidase, CA−E was the most active fraction. UHPLC/MS analysis of the methanolic extract of C. arvensis disclosed the presence of 62 compounds as sterols, triterpenes, flavonoids, fatty acids, alkaloids and coumarins. In Multivariate Analysis, the total phenolic contents were correlated strongly with all antioxidant assays except FRAP and DPPH. Regarding enzyme inhibitory properties, only AChE, BChE and α-amylase were correlated with the total phenolic contents in the extracts. Docking analyses confirmed these findings, as identified compounds had high binding free energy and inhibition constants with the enzymes studied. It was finally concluded that C. arvensis is a potential industrial crop, which can be a component of nutraceuticals and functional foods, if evaluated for its toxicity.

Graphical Abstract

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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