Anti-Inflammatory, Thrombolytic and Hair-Growth Promoting Activity of the n-Hexane Fraction of the Methanol Extract of Leea indica Leaves

Shahenur Alam Sakib; Abu Montakim Tareq; Ameerul Islam; Ahmed Rakib; Mohammad Nazmul Islam; Mohammad Arafat Uddin; Md Masudur Rahman; Veronique Seidel; Talha Bin Emran

doi:10.3390/plants10061081

Anti-Inflammatory, Thrombolytic and Hair-Growth Promoting Activity of the n-Hexane Fraction of the Methanol Extract of Leea indica Leaves

Plants (Basel). 2021 May 27;10(6):1081. doi: 10.3390/plants10061081.

Authors

Shahenur Alam Sakib¹, Abu Montakim Tareq¹, Ameerul Islam¹, Ahmed Rakib², Mohammad Nazmul Islam¹, Mohammad Arafat Uddin¹, Md Masudur Rahman¹, Veronique Seidel³, Talha Bin Emran⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Chittagong, Kumira, Chittagong 4318, Bangladesh.
² Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.
³ Natural Products Research Laboratory, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0RE, UK.
⁴ Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong 4381, Bangladesh.

Abstract

The anti-inflammatory, thrombolytic, and hair growth-promoting activity of the n-hexane fraction from the methanol extract of Leea indica (NFLI) leaves was investigated. NFLI showed significant inhibition of hemolysis and protein denaturation, and exhibited a concentration-dependent thrombolytic activity. When applied topically to mice at concentrations of 10, 1, 0.1%, NFLI demonstrated a significant increase in average hair length (p < 0.001) compared with untreated animals. NFLI (1% concentration) exhibited the highest percentage of hair regrowth on day 7, 14 and 21 (81.24, 65.60, and 62.5%, respectively). An in silico study was further conducted to predict the binding affinity of phytochemicals previously reported in L. indica towards PGD₂ synthase (PDB ID: 2VD1), an enzyme that catalyses the isomerisation of prostaglandin H₂ to PGD₂ which is involved in hair loss. Phthalic acid, farnesol, n-tricosane, n-tetracosane, and n-heptacosane showed the best ligand efficiencies towards PGD₂ synthase and their intermolecular interactions were visualised using BIOVIA Discovery Studio Visualizer. Our results indicate that L. indica could represent a promising natural alternative to tackle alopecia.

Keywords: Leea indica; anti-inflammatory activity; hair growth-promoting activity; thrombolytic activity.