Insights of antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective properties of antimicrobial secondary metabolites of corm extract from Caladium x hortulanum

Abstract

Medicinal plants have therapeutic potential and are used worldwide to treat various diseases. In this study, the corm of Caladium x hortulanum was extracted with various solvents and implied the availability of phytochemicals such as flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, steroids, phenols, glycosides, saponins and terpenoids. The solvent extracts of the corm showed antibacterial and antifungal activity with the growth inhibition zone ranged 0-24 mm. The isolation of phytochemicals was carried out using gel column chromatography, Thin Layer Chromatography followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrophotometry analysis was used to determine the phytochemicals. The corm extract showed potent antidiabetic activity on Hep G2 cell lines and CCl₄ induced toxicity was elucidated. This possessed antiinflammatory property on murine monocyclic macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 showed 45.85 ± 1.8% inhibition of cyclooxygenase activity. The corm extract showed hepatoprotective activity. The CCl₄ incorporated Hep G2 cells showed 19.629 ± 1.5% viability, whereas viability increased as 78.82 ± 1.9% at 100 µg/ml of extract.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory; Antidiabetic; Caladium x hortulanum; Hepatoprotective; Medicinal plants; Phytochemicals.

Fig. 1

Elution profile of secondary metabolities from the corm of C. x hortulanum in High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). A major peak was detected at 1.554 min and the elution was carried out up to 10 min.

Fig. 2

Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrophotometry profile of secondary metabolites from the corm of C. x hortulanum.

Fig. 3

Invitro glucose uptake of Hep G2 cell lines. About 6.25–100 µg sample from the corm of C. x hortulanum was loaded into each well. (Error bar: Standard deviation, n = 3).

Fig. 4

Anti inflammatory effects of corm extract from C. x hortulanum. Murine monocyclic macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 was used for this assay. The cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition was determined using spectrophotometry method. Samples were loaded into the micro titer plate at increasing concentrations and inhibition (%) was assayed. (Error bar: Standard deviation, n = 3).

Fig. 5

MTT cytotoxicity assay. Hepatoprotective activity screening was carried out using human liver cells derived Hep G2 cells against cell damage induced by CCl₄. Optical density of the titre plate was read at 540 nm against DMSO blank. The viability of cells increased at high concentrations of secondary metabolites from the corm extract of C. x hortulanum. (Error bar: Standard deviation, n = 3).