Pharmacological and computer-aided studies provide new insights into Millettia peguensis Ali (Fabaceae)

Safaet Alam; Nazim Uddin Emon; Saimon Shahriar; Fahmida Tasnim Richi; Mohammad Rashedul Haque; Mohammad Nazmul Islam; Shahenur Alam Sakib; Amlan Ganguly

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2020.11.004

Pharmacological and computer-aided studies provide new insights into Millettia peguensis Ali (Fabaceae)

Saudi Pharm J. 2020 Dec;28(12):1777-1790. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2020.11.004. Epub 2020 Nov 17.

Authors

Safaet Alam¹, Nazim Uddin Emon², Saimon Shahriar³, Fahmida Tasnim Richi³, Mohammad Rashedul Haque¹, Mohammad Nazmul Islam², Shahenur Alam Sakib², Amlan Ganguly⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
² Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science and Engineering, International Islamic University Chittagong, Chittagong 4318, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Millettia peguensis, popular for its ethnopharmacological uses, was employed to evaluate its different pharmacological properties in this study. The analgesic studies of the plant have been performed by acetic acid-induced writhing and formalin-induced licking tests respectively, whereas the antidiarrheal experiment was done by castor oil-induced diarrheal test. Besides, antioxidant, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, thrombolytic evaluations were performed by DPPH scavenging with phenol content determination, brine shrimp lethality, disc diffusion and clot lysis methods respectively. Moreover, in silico study of the phytoconstituents was carried out by molecular docking and ADME/T analysis. The methanol extract of Millettia peguensis (MEMP) revealed significant biological activity in the analgesic and antidiarrheal test (p < 0.001) compared to the standards. Antioxidant assay displayed promising IC₅₀ values (15.96 μg/mL) with the total phenol content (65.27 ± 1.24 mg GAE/g). In the cytotoxicity study, the LC₅₀ value was found to be 1.094 μg/mL. Besides, MEMP was highly sensitive to the bacteria but less liable to clot lysis. Furthermore, phytoconstituents exposed potential binding affinity towards the selected receptors, whereas the ADME/T properties indicated the drug likeliness of the plant. The outcomes of these findings suggest the therapeutic potential of this plant against pain, diarrhea, inflammation, and tissue toxicity.

Keywords: 5-HT3, 5-hydroxytryptamine 3; ASA, acetyl salicylic acid; Analgesic; Antidiarrheal; Antioxidant; Antitumor; BHT, butylated hydroxytoluene; CADD, computer-aided drug discovery; COX 1, cyclooxygenase-1; COX 2, cyclooxygenase-2; DPPH, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate; GABA, gamma-Aminobutyric acid; IC50, half maximal inhibitory concentration; IL-1, interleukin-1; LC50, Lethal Concentration 50; MEMP, methanol extract of Millettia peguensis; MMP 9, matrix metalloproteinase 9; Millettia peguensis; NF-κB, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells; RONS, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species; ROS, reactive oxygen species; TNF-alpha, tumour necrosis factor alpha.