In vivo anti-inflammatory activity of Fabaceae species extracts screened by a new ex vivo assay using human whole blood

The First Comprehensive Chemical Profiling of Vachellia gummifera (Willd.) Kyal. & Boatwr., a Plant with Medicinal Value

Vachellia gummifera (Willd.) Kyal. & Boatwr. is a medicinal plant endemic to Morocco that has no documented studies on its chemical composition. In this study, the chemical composition of the water/methanol (4 : 1) extracts of air-dried leaf and stem samples of Moroccan V. gummifera was determined using UHPLC-MS and NMR. In total, over 100 metabolites were identified in our study. Pinitol was the major compound in both the leaf and stem extracts, being significantly more abundant in the former. Asparagine and 3-hydroxyheteroendrin were the second most abundant compounds in the stem and leaf extracts, respectively, though both compounds were present in each tissue. The other compounds included flavonoids based on quercetin, and phenolic derivatives. Eucomic acid, only identified in the stems and was the major aromatic compound distinguishing the leaf and stem profiles. Quercetin 3-O-(6''-O-malonyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside was identified as the major flavonoid in the leaves but was also present in the stems. Other malonylated derivatives that were all flavonol glycosides based on myricetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin in addition to quercetin were also identified. This is the first report of eucomic acid and malonylated compounds in Vachellia species. This report provides valuable insights into the chemotaxonomic significance of the Vachellia genus.

Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activity of Acacia polyphylla and identification of a new apigenin-3-C- glycosylated type flavonoid

Owing to the potentially harmful adverse effects of current anti-inflammatory drugs, there is a need to identify new alternative substances. Thus, this study aimed to perform a phytochemical analysis of A. polyphylla to identify compounds responsible for its anti-inflammatory activity. Several fractions of the A. polyphylla extract were obtained and evaluated in an ex vivo anti-inflammatory assay using fresh human blood. Among the evaluated fractions, the BH fraction displayed the highest percentage of PGE2 inhibition (74.8%) compared to the reference drugs dexamethasone and indomethacin, demonstrating its excellent potential for anti-inflammatory activity. Astragalin (P1), a known 3-O-glucoside of kaempferol, was isolated from the A. polyphylla extract for the first time. In addition, a new compound (P2) was isolated and identified as the apigenin-3-C-glycosylated flavonoid. Astragalin showed moderate PGE2 activity (48.3%), whereas P2 was not anti-inflammatory. This study contributes to the phytochemical studies of A. polyphylla and confirms its anti-inflammatory potential.

Phenolic diversity and antioxidant potential of different varieties of bamboo leaves using LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS and LC-ESI-QqQ-MS/MS

Bamboo is a highly sustainable plant with a wide variety of leaves, yet little is known about its bioactive composition. Therefore, this study aims to characterize the phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity of 11 different varieties of bamboo leaves using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. As a result, 81 phenolic compounds were tentatively identified, 29 of which were identified for the first time in the literature for bamboo leaves. The tentatively identified compounds fell into five classes (hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids, flavones, flavanones, and flavonols). The concentration of phenolic compounds ranged from 103 to 1291 mg/100 g. Among the provisionally identified compounds, there was a predominance of derivatives from the luteolin and apigenin group, with orientin and schaftoside being the majority in each group, respectively. The leaves also showed significant variation in antioxidant activity, highlighting the potential bioactive composition of bamboo leaves for future applications in the food industry.

Phytochemical investigation of Nigrospora zimmermanii isolated from Poincianella pluviosa (Sibipiruna): metabolites characterisation and screening for anti-inflammatory activity

Endophytic fungi residing symbiotically in plant tissues are promising sources of bioactive natural products. This study explored the anti-inflammatory potential of an endophytic fungus isolated from the Brazilian medicinal plant Poincianella pluviosa (Sibipiruna). The extract from the endophyte FPD13 exhibited potential ex vivo anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release by 75.22%. Phytochemical analysis using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-HRMS) enabled the isolation and identification of three compounds, including the macrolide Nigrosporolide, the phenyl-propanol Tyrosol, and the terpene Decarestrictine A. Morphological characteristics and Internal Transcribed Spacers region (ITS) sequencing classified fungus FPD13 as Nigrospora zimmermanii. The results reveal the anti-inflammatory potential and chemical diversity of P. pluviosa endophytes, warranting further investigation into the bioactivity and structure elucidation of their bioactive metabolites.

Ex vivo inhibition of PGE2 formation in human blood by four bicyclico [3.2.1] octane neolignans isolated from Aniba firmula bark, two with unusual structural pattern

The phytochemical investigation of the stem bark crude extract of Aniba firmula (Lauraceae) led to the isolation of undescribed bicyclic [3.2.1] octane neolignans, 1 and 2, characterized by unusual bicyclic patterns and two other known bicyclic neolignans 3 and 4. Anti-inflammatory bicyclic [3.2.1] octane neolignans metabolites were previously reported in the literature, and the A. firmula stands out in the Lauraceae family as a source of potentially bioactive compounds. Thus, herein the anti-inflammatory potential of four isolated compounds from A. firmula was accessed via an ex vivo anti-inflammatory model that included plasmatic quantification of the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) inflammatory mediator. Compounds 2 and 3 exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting the production of PGE2 in plasma samples, thus by interference with the cyclooxygenase (COX) inflammatory pathway. Therefore, these findings demonstrate that the bicyclic octane neolignan classes [3.2.1] can present anti-inflammatory potential.

Potential anti-inflammatory biomarkers from Myrtaceae essential oils revealed by untargeted metabolomics

Many species from Myrtaceae have traditionally been used in traditional medicine as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiarrheal, antioxidant and antirheumatic, besides in blood cholesterol reduction. In the present work, the anti-inflammatory activity of essential oils from eighteen Myrtaceae spp. were evaluated according to their ex-vivo anti-inflammatory activity in human blood, and the corresponding biomarkers were determined using untargeted metabolomics data and multivariate data analysis. From these studied species, six displayed anti-inflammatory activity with percentage rates of inhibition of PGE2 release above 70%. Caryophyllene oxide (1), humulene epoxide II (2), β-selinene (3), α-amorphene (4), α-selinene (5), germacrene A (6), β-bisabolene (7), α-muurolene (8), α-humulene (9), β-gurjunene (10), myrcene (11), β-elemene (12), α-cadinol (13), α-copaene (14), E-nerolidol (15) and ledol (16) were annotated as potential anti-inflammatory biomarkers. The results obtained in this study point to essential oils from species of the Myrtaceae family as a rich source of anti-inflammatory agents.

Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Lauraceae Plant Species and Prediction Models Based on Their Metabolomics Profiling Data

The Lauraceae is a botanical family known for its anti-inflammatory potential. However, several species have not yet been studied. Thus, this work aimed to screen the anti-inflammatory activity of this plant family and to build statistical prediction models. The methodology was based on the statistical analysis of high-resolution liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry data and the ex vivo anti-inflammatory activity of plant extracts. The ex vivo results demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity for several of these plants for the first time. The sample data were applied to build anti-inflammatory activity prediction models, including the partial least square acquired, artificial neural network, and stochastic gradient descent, which showed adequate fitting and predictive performance. Key anti-inflammatory markers, such as aporphine and benzylisoquinoline alkaloids were annotated with confidence level 2. Additionally, the validated prediction models proved to be useful for predicting active extracts using metabolomics data and studying their most bioactive metabolites.

Anticholinesterase Activity of Budmunchiamine Alkaloids Revealed by Comparative Chemical Profiling of Two Albizia spp., Molecular Docking and Dynamic Studies

Alzheimer's disease remains a global health challenge and an unmet need requiring innovative approaches to discover new drugs. The current study aimed to investigate the inhibitory activity of Albizia lucidior and Albizia procera leaves against acetylcholinesterase enzyme in vitro and explore their chemical compositions. Metabolic profiling of the bioactive plant, A. lucidior, via UHPLC/MS/MS-based Molecular Networking highlighted the richness of its ethanolic extract with budmunchiamine alkaloids, fourteen budmunchiamine alkaloids as well as four new putative ones were tentatively identified for the first time in A. lucidior. Pursuing these alkaloids in the fractions of A. lucidior extract via molecular networking revealed that alkaloids were mainly concentrated in the ethyl acetate fraction. In agreement, the alkaloid-rich fraction showed the most promising anticholinesterase activity (IC₅₀ 5.26 µg/mL) versus the ethanolic extract and ethyl acetate fraction of A. lucidior (IC₅₀ 24.89 and 6.90 µg/mL, respectively), compared to donepezil (IC₅₀ 3.90 µg/mL). Furthermore, deep in silico studies of tentatively identified alkaloids of A. lucidior were performed. Notably, normethyl budmunchiamine K revealed superior stability and receptor binding affinity compared to the two used references: donepezil and the co-crystallized inhibitor (MF2 700). This was concluded based on molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and molecular mechanics generalized born/solvent accessibility (MM-GBSA) calculations.

Anti-Inflammatory Markers of Hops Cultivars (Humulus lupulus L.) Evaluated by Untargeted Metabolomics Strategy

Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are edible flowers commonly used to add flavour and aroma to beer, besides they have rich chemical diversity and medicinal potential. In this work, an ex vivo anti-inflammatory assay via the LPS-induced signalling pathway and metabolomics approaches were performed to evaluate the ability of hops to inhibit the production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) inflammatory mediator and analyze which metabolites produced by the nine different hop cultivars are potential anti-inflammatory markers. Columbus, Chinook and Hallertau Mittelfrüh hop cultivars yielded extracts with PGE2 release inhibition rates of 86.7, 92.5 and 73.5 %, respectively. According to the multivariate statistical analysis, the majority of the metabolites correlated with the activity were prenylated phloroglucinol and phenolic homologs. These results suggest promissory anti-inflammatory hop metabolites.