HPTLC based quantification of β-sitosterol from the leaves of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis and in-silico prediction of potential drug targeted towards cancer therapy.

Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (N. arbor-tristis) is a plant of enormous medicinal importance and each part of the plant retained extensive medicinal properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities, etc. Phytosterols are secondary metabolites of plants that are well-known for their ability to reduce cholesterol, boost immunity and inhibit the formation of cancer cells. In this study, β-sitosterol, which boosts antioxidant enzymes and reduces oxidative stress, was qualitatively and quantitatively identified in the methanolic extract of the plant's leaves using the HPTLC. Our findings show that N. arbor-tristis has a significant concentration of β-sitosterol with the 0.64 Rf value. Further, docking and simulation (in-silico) studies have shown that β-sitosterol has good binding affinity with human DNA Topoisomerase I (h-DNA Topo I) and has the potential to inhibit its activity. It can be reconstructed as h-DNA Topo I determent.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.