Chemical Composition of Various Nepeta cataria Plant Organs' Methanol Extracts Associated with In Vivo Hepatoprotective and Antigenotoxic Features as well as Molecular Modeling Investigations

Milena D Vukić; Nenad L Vuković; Milan Mladenović; Nevena Tomašević; Sanja Matić; Snežana Stanić; Filippo Sapienza; Rino Ragno; Mijat Božović; Miroslava Kačániová

doi:10.3390/plants11162114

Chemical Composition of Various Nepeta cataria Plant Organs' Methanol Extracts Associated with In Vivo Hepatoprotective and Antigenotoxic Features as well as Molecular Modeling Investigations

Plants (Basel). 2022 Aug 14;11(16):2114. doi: 10.3390/plants11162114.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Radoja Domanovića 12, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia.
² Kragujevac Center for Computational Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Radoja Domanovića 12, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia.
³ Department of Science, Institute for Information Technologies Kragujevac, University of Kragujevac, Jovana Cvijića bb, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia.
⁴ Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Radoja Domanovića 12, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia.
⁵ Rome Center for Molecular Design, Department of Drug Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁶ Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Montenegro, Džordža Vašingtona bb, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro.
⁷ Institute of Horticulture, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia.
⁸ Department of Bioenergy, Food Technology and Microbiology, Institute of Food Technology and Nutrition, University of Rzeszow, 4 Zelwerowicza St., 35601 Rzeszow, Poland.

Abstract

This report summarizes the chemical composition analysis of Nepeta cataria L. flower, leaf, and stem methanol extracts (FME, LME, SME, respectively) as well as their hepatoprotective and antigenotoxic features in vivo and in silico. Herein, Wistar rat liver intoxication with CCl₄ resulted in the generation of trichloromethyl and trichloromethylperoxy radicals, causing lipid peroxidation within the hepatocyte membranes (viz. hepatotoxicity), as well as the subsequent formation of aberrant rDNA adducts and consequent double-strand break (namely genotoxicity). Examined FME, LME, and SME administered orally to Wistar rats before the injection of CCl₄ exerted the most notable pharmacological properties in the concentrations of 200, 100, and 50 mg/kg of body weight, respectively. Thus, the extracts' hepatoprotective features were determined by monitoring the catalytic activities of enzymes and the concentrations of reactive oxidative species, modulating the liver redox status. Furthermore, the necrosis of hepatocytes was assessed by means of catalytic activities of liver toxicity markers. The extracts' antigenotoxic features were quantified using the comet assay. Distinct pharmacological property features may be attributed to quercitrin (8406.31 μg/g), chlorogenic acid (1647.32 μg/g), and quinic acid (536.11 μg/g), found within the FME, rosmarinic acid (1056.14 μg/g), and chlorogenic acid (648.52 μg/g), occurring within the LME, and chlorogenic acid (1408.43 μg/g), the most abundant in SME. Hence, the plant's secondary metabolites were individually administered similar to extracts, upon which their pharmacology in vivo was elucidated in silico by means of the structure-based studies within rat catalase, as a redox marker, and rat topoisomerase IIα, an enzyme catalyzing the rat DNA double-strand break. Conclusively, the examined N. cataria extracts in specified concentrations could be used in clinical therapy for the prevention of toxin-induced liver diseases.

Keywords: Nepeta cataria; Wistar rats; antigenotoxic activity; hepatoprotective activity; phenolic compounds; structure-based pharmacological studies.

Abstract

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