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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1481447
This article is part of the Research Topic Bioactive Compounds, Functional Ingredients, Antioxidants, and Health Benefits of Edible Plants Volume II View all articles

Phytochemical Profiling, Antioxidant, Enzymatic Inhibitory, and Antibacterial Activities of Wigandia ecuadorensis

Provisionally accepted
Rafael Viteri Rafael Viteri 1*Fernando Espinoza Fernando Espinoza 1Xavier Cornejo Xavier Cornejo 2Mario J. Simirgiotis Mario J. Simirgiotis 3Patricia Manzano Patricia Manzano 4
  • 1 ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • 2 University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador
  • 3 Instituto de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
  • 4 Faculty of Life Sciences, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Wigandia ecuadoriensis, a member of the Namaceae family, is a source of metabolites and has been traditionally used as an anti-inflammatory. This work aimed to determine the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant effect, inhibition of α-glucosidase and cholinesterase enzymes (AChE, BChE), and antibacterial activity of the methanolic extract (ME) and subfractions of Wigandia ecuadoriensis. The findings revealed that ME and its subfractions exhibited significant antioxidant capacity, with the ethyl acetate fraction being the most active, displaying an IC50 of 17.66 µg/mL against the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and 10.31 µg/mL against 2,2′azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS). This activity was attributed to its high total phenolic content (357.47 mg GAE/g). Furthermore, W. ecuadoriensis fractions showed marked antimicrobial properties against human pathogen strains with Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) values of 1.56-6.25 mg/mL for S. aureus, E. faecalis and E. coli. Furthermore, aqueous fraction fraction exhibited slight inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (IC50: 915.98 µg/mL) and butyrylcholinesterase (IC50: 380.42 µg/mL). Interestingly, EF showed the greatest inhibitory effect of α-glucosidase (IC50: 38.44 µg/mL) which is more potent than the control used, acarbose (IC50: 179.07 µg/mL). UHPLC-QTOF-MS analysis identified forty compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, saponins, terpenes, and fatty acyls. As far as we know, this is the first study to evaluate the chemical composition and biological potential of W. ecuadoriensis. Our results provide the first evidence to the chemical knowledge of the species W. ecuadoriensis and demonstrate its bioactive potential as an interesting source of secondary metabolites with possible beneficial properties for health.

    Keywords: Wigandia ecuadoriensis, enzyme inhibition, antioxidant activity, Antibacterial, Phenols content, Flavonoids

    Received: 15 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Viteri, Espinoza, Cornejo, Simirgiotis and Manzano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Rafael Viteri, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil, Ecuador

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