Polyphenol Fingerprint, Biological Activities, and In Silico Studies of the Medicinal Plant Cistus parviflorus L. Extract

Fatma A A El-Shibani; Ghassan M Sulaiman; Amr S Abouzied; Amer Al Ali; Abdulnaser Kh Abdulkarim; Abdullah D Alamami; Mohammed Asiri; Hamdoon A Mohammed

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c07545

Polyphenol Fingerprint, Biological Activities, and In Silico Studies of the Medicinal Plant Cistus parviflorus L. Extract

ACS Omega. 2023 Dec 4;8(50):48269-48279. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c07545. eCollection 2023 Dec 19.

Authors

Fatma A A El-Shibani^{1

2}, Ghassan M Sulaiman³, Amr S Abouzied^{4

5}, Amer Al Ali⁶, Abdulnaser Kh Abdulkarim⁷, Abdullah D Alamami⁸, Mohammed Asiri⁹, Hamdoon A Mohammed^{10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Benghazi University, Benghazi 16063, Libya.
² Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assalam International University, Benghazi, Libya.
³ Division of Biotechnology, Department of Applied Sciences, University of Technology, Baghdad 10066, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Hail, Hail 81442, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Organization for Drug Control and Research (NODCAR), Giza 12553, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Bisha, 255, Al Nakhil, Bisha 67714, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Basic Medical Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tripoli, Tripoli 1955, Libya.
⁸ Department of Basic Medical Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benghazi, Benghazi 16063, Libya.
⁹ Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 61413, Abha 9088, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Qassim 51452, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11371, Egypt.

Abstract

Cistus parviflorus L. (Cistaceae) is a medicinal plant with several folkloric applications, including being used for urinary tract infections and as a food additive. In this study, the polyphenolic diversity and the antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antimicrobial activities of the C. parviflorus methanolic extract were evaluated. Spectrophotometric and HPLC-based analyses using standard polyphenolic compounds were conducted to measure the phenolics and flavonoids in the plant extract. The in vitro DPPH, ORAC, FRAP, and α-glucosidase assays were used to evaluate the plant's antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. Furthermore, disc diffusion and MIC-based microdilution tests were applied to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the plant against broad-spectrum microorganisms. The analysis revealed the existence of high phenolic and flavonoid quantities that were measured at 302.59 ± 0.6 μg GAE and 134.3 ± 0.5 μg RE, respectively. The HPLC-based analysis revealed the existence of 18 phenolic acids and 8 flavonoids. The major phenolic acid was ellagic acid (169.03 ppm), while catechin was the major flavonoid (91.80 ppm). Remarkable antioxidant activity was measured using three different assays: DPPH, ORAC, and FRAP. Furthermore, strong inhibition of α-glucosidase compared to acarbose was recorded for the plant extract (IC₅₀ 0.924 ± 0.6). The results showed that C. parviflorus's extract had a strong anti-Escherichia coli effect with MIC value of 0.98 μg\mL and IZD value of 32.2 ± 0.58 mm compared to 25.3 ± 0.18 mm for gentamycin, the positive control. Moreover, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Salmonella typhimurium all showed significant growth inhibition in response to the extract, a result that may be related to the use of the plant in traditional medicine to treat urinary tract infections. The docking study indicated the higher binding affinity of the major identified compounds, i.e., ellagic acid, rutin, naringin, catechin, and punicalagin, to the S. aureus gyrase-DNA complex, which might suggest the possible mechanisms of the plant as antimicrobial agents.