Biochemical, phytochemical and in silico evaluation for medicinal properties of Eucalyptus tereticornis
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Date
2022-01
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Eucalyptus is a fast growing evergreen tree, grown widely in various parts of India for its agronomical and medicinal uses. Its health benefits are due to its antioxidant properties. It is a reservoir of phytochemicals, which contribute to its antioxidant properties. In the current research work, the antioxidant activity of green leaves of Eucalyptus in methanolic and hexane extract, along with content of some phytochemicals (phenols, flavonoids, flavonols, proanthocyanidins and tannins) were determined. In methanolic extract, total antioxidant capacity was 17.23±0.09 mg/g, total phenolic content was 92.7±0.03 mg GAE/g, total flavonoid content was 53.7±0.10 mg CE/g, total flavonol content was 2.30±0.02 mg CE/g, tannin content was 9.23±0.01 mg TAE/g and proanthocyanidin content was 0.57±0.021 mg CE/g. The IC50 values for DPPH, FRAP and metal chelating activities were found to be 15.80±0.12 μg/ml, 8.41±0.03 μg/ml, 19.92±0.009 μg/ml, respectively. While in hexane extract, total antioxidant capacity was 8.25±0.06 mg/g, total phenolic content was 11.62±0.009mg GAE/g, total flavonoid content was 7.83±0.091 mg CE/g, total flavonol content was 0.89±0.001 mg CE/g, tannin content was 30.21±0.001 mg TAE/g and proanthocyanidin content was 35.13±0.07 mg CE/g. The IC50 values for DPPH, FRAP and metal chelating activities were found to be 28.81±0.001 μg/ml, 20.93±0.01 μg/ml, 26.44±0.04 μg/ml, respectively. All these parameters showed positive correlation with antioxidant activity, showing that increase in concentration of these compounds lead to increase in antioxidant activity of the plant. The hexane and methanolic extracts of
green leaves of Eucalyptus was also tested for its antibacterial effect on gram positive S. aureus and gram negative E. coli. The hexane extract of green leaves of Eucalyptus showed better antibacterial activity on S. aureus than on E. coli with maximum zone of inhibition of 24 mm at 100μg/ml followed by minimum zone of inhibition of 6 mm at 25μg/ml respectively. However, methanolic extract did not show any antibacterial activity. The water soluble proteins from green leaves of Eucalyptus were partially extracted using SDS-PAGE. The process showed 13 bands out of which the most prominent band was obtained of size 14.3 kDa with Rf value 0.831. 1, 8- cineole, found in Eucalyptus oil has variety of medicinal properties, including anti- inflammatory and analgesic activities, which were analysed in silico. The binding energy of 1, 8- cineole with respective proteins (Trpa1 and Trpa2 for analgesic activity; Cox1 and Cox2 for anti- inflammatory activity) was found to be more negative when compared with that of synthetic drugs (Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen). Hence, it can be concluded that 1, 8- cineole can prove to be a better analgesic and anti- inflammatory drug. Therefore, it can be concluded that Eucalyptus is a pharmaceutically important plant whose medicinal potential needs to be explored.