AUTHOR=Alam Safaet , Richi Fahmida Tasnim , Hasnat Hasin , Ahmed Firoj , Emon Nazim Uddin , Uddin Md. Jasim , Rana G. M. Masud , Wang Shuanghu , Yeasmin Mst. Sarmina , Ahmed Nazim Uddin , Khan Md. Salim , Al Mamun Abdullah 

TITLE=Chemico-pharmacological evaluations of the dwarf elephant ear (Colocasia affinis Schott) plant metabolites and extracts: health benefits from vegetable source

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2024.1428341

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2024.1428341

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Introduction:</bold><italic>Colocasia affinis</italic> Schott (Family: Araceae), found in the Asian region, is a traditional root vegetable consumed by the locals and well-known as Dwarf Elephant Ear.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> For the pharmacological exploration of this root vegetable, four kupchan fractions (i.e. HSF, DCMSF, EASF, and AQSF) from ethanolic extract of <italic>C. affinis</italic> were employed to <italic>in vitro</italic> i.e. antioxidant, cytotoxicity, and antimicrobial and <italic>in vivo</italic> i.e. antidiarrheal and analgesic assays, followed by phytochemical screening and GC-MS protocol.</p><p><bold>Result and Discussion:</bold> In the antioxidant assay, the AQSF showed promising potential with an IC<sub>50</sub> value of 29.4 μg/mL and additionally, it exhibited the greatest overall phenolic content, measuring 57.23 mg GAE/gm. of extract among other fractions. The AQSF also revealed promising cytotoxic activity in brine shrimp lethality assay with an LC<sub>50</sub> value of 1.36 μg/mL. Both AQSF and EASF exhibited substantial antimicrobial efficacy against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as various fungus species with a remarkable zone of inhibitions compared to standards. Whereas, during both the castor oil-induced antidiarrheal and acetic acid-induced writhing assay, the DCMSF at 400 mg/kg dose exhibited the highest 51.16% reduction of diarrhea and 52.33% reduction of writhing. Phytochemical screening revealed several chemical groups while GC-MS study of different fractions of dwarf elephant ear ethanolic extract revealed 48 different bioactive phytochemicals in total. Several targets such as KAS, DHFR for anti-microbial activities, GLR, URO for antioxidant activities, EGFR, BCL-2 for cytotoxicity, KOR, DOR for antidiarrheal activities and COX-2, TNF-α for analgesic activities are considered for molecular docking against identified phytocompounds and standards along with ADME/T studies to ascertain their safety, efficacy and drug likeliness profiles.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> To recapitulate, our study revealed that vegetables such as dwarf elephant ear can be considered as a prospective source of therapeutics and drug development besides their nutritive food values.</p>