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. 2025 Jan;15(1):19.
doi: 10.1007/s13205-024-04167-4. Epub 2024 Dec 20.

Phytochemical composition, in vitro cytotoxicity and in silico ADME/Tox analysis of the active compounds of Oxalis latifolia Kunth. extracts with promising anticancer potential

Arumugam Vignesh  1 , Karuppasamy Dharani  2 , Subramaniam Selvakumar  3 , Krishnan Vasanth  2
Affiliations

Phytochemical composition, in vitro cytotoxicity and in silico ADME/Tox analysis of the active compounds of Oxalis latifolia Kunth. extracts with promising anticancer potential

Arumugam Vignesh et al. 3 Biotech. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

This study investigated the anticancer phytocompounds in leaf extracts of Oxalis latifolia Kunth. Quantitative analysis of the phytochemical composition showed high levels of primary metabolites: carbohydrates (45.11 ± 2.15 GLE mg/100 mg), proteins (28.13 ± 0.94 BSA mg/100 mg), and amino acids (13.25 ± 1.16 LE mg/100 mg). Ethyl acetate extracts had the highest concentrations of secondary metabolites, including phenolic content (122.52 ± 4.27 GAE mg/100 mg), total flavonoids (91.86 ± 2.65 QE mg/100 mg), and alkaloids (82.18 ± 0.72 COLE mg/100 mg). In addition, strong antioxidant activities were observed in the DPPH• scavenging assay (IC50 11.51 ± 2.28 µg/mL), ABTS·+ radical cation scavenging activity (97.42 ± 7.19 µM TE/g), and FRAP assay (14.34 ± 1.24 mM Fe(II)/mg). Based on preliminary analysis, the ethyl acetate extract was fractionated using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), yielding two distinct fractions with Rf values of 0.31 and 0.76. GC-MS analysis of these fractions identified 33 bioactive compounds. These fractions exhibited anticancer activity against the A549 lung cancer cell line, with IC50 values of 47.25 µg/mL and 48.31 µg/mL, as determined by the MTT assay. Furthermore, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) studies on 25 selected compounds indicated favorable pharmacokinetic properties and drug-likeness. In silico molecular docking showed strong binding affinities of these bioactive compounds to the p21 protein, comparable to the synthetic drug Cisplatin-quercetin. The results highlight the potential of O. latifolia in anticancer therapy, particularly through modulation of the p21 pathway, supported by in vitro cytotoxicity assessments, molecular docking, and ADMET analysis.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-024-04167-4.

Keywords: ADMET; Anticancer; Molecular docking; Oxalis latifolia Kunth.; P21 pathway; Phytochemical analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest or competing financial interests.

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