Phytochemical Analysis, Lc-Ms/Ms-Qtof Identification of Phytocompounds and in vitro Antioxidant Activity of Traditional Medicinal Plant Formulation.

Background: Medicinal plants are invaluable sources of novel medications worldwide, used for centuries due to their therapeutic properties and health benefits. Comprehensive quality evaluation and monitoring studies are available on single medicinal plant, however, there are limited data on plant-based formulations especially the formulations described in ancient texts.

Objective: Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the phytochemicals present and the identification of active phytocompounds of a traditional Unani plant-based formulation (Zingiber officinalis, Piper longum, Coptis teeta, Piper nigrum, and Foeniculum vulgare) described by distinguished Persian physician of 10th century, Abul-Mansoor ul Hasan Qamari (d.980 A.D.) in classical text 'Ghina-Muna' for ocular ailments.

Methods: Phytochemical analyses were conducted according to the guidelines given by the World Health Organisation. Antioxidant activity was determined by radical scavenging activity of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and nitric oxide inhibition activity.

Results: Liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS-QTOF) analysis revealed berberine, coptisine, 6-shogaol, 6-dehydroshogaol, 6-dehydrogingerdione, 6-gingerol, 10-gingerol, gingerenone-A, piperine, piperic acid, quercetin-3-o-galactoside, kaempferol-3-o-rutinoside, kaempferol-3-o-glucoside, rosmarinic acid, 3-caffeoylquinic acid, 4-caffeoylquinic acid, eriodictyol-7-rutinoside, and 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid as the active phytoconstituents. These phytocompounds have promising neuroprotective and antioxidant activity. Findings showed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, and saponins in the formulation. Quantitative analysis of total flavonoid and total phenolics content were found to be 102.889 mgQE/g and 12.004 mgGAE/g of extract, respectively. The results obtained revealed remarkable antioxidant activity of studied formulation as evidenced by the low half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) values.

Conclusion: The parameters evaluated in this study are adequate for quality control of traditional medicinal plant-based formulations and can serve as a reference for standardizing this formulation. The formulation has potent neuroprotective and antioxidant phytochemicals, implying that it could be used as a leading pharmacological intervention for preventing/or slowing the progress of neurodegenerative diseases, including ocular conditions like glaucoma.

Keywords: Unani medicine, phytochemical screening, active phytoconstituents, neuroprotection, antioxidant activity.