Antioxidant and anticoagulant effects of Aqueous extract of Inula viscosa

Abstract

The present study aims to evaluate the antioxidant and anticoagulant activities of aqueous extract (Aq. E) of Inula viscosa (I. viscosa) leaf. The total polyphenol and flavonoids content of Aq. E was quantified spectrophotometrically, using Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3, respectively. Results indicate that the studied extract contain considerable amounts of polyphenols (129. 93 ± 5.76 μg GAE/ mg) and flavonoids (12.12 ± 5.05 μg QE/mg). The antioxidant activity of I. viscosa leaf was estimated in vitro by determining the scavenging activity of DPPH. and reducing power capacity. Results showed that the Aq. E inhibited DPPH. with IC50 values of 14.77 ± 0.29 μg/ml. Moreover, the Aq.E exhibited powerful reducing power (EC50 = 45.81 ± 0.92 μg/ml). On the other hand, the anticoagulant activity of I. viscosa leaf extract was evaluated the anti-coagulation by recording the time required for complete blood clotting (prothrombin time TP). Results revealed that extract of I.viscosa at 50 μg/ml exerted significant anticoagulant activity, where the clotting time was prolonged to 19:49 min. Moreover, analysis of the effect of I. viscosa extract at different concentrations (1, 10, 20 and 50 μg/ml) on the clot lysis revealed that the Aq. E increased the lysis of human clot. The highest percentage (23.56 ± 12.24) of the clot lysis was obtained at 1 μg/ml. This value was much close to that obtained with citrate (22.63± 3.65 %), used as positive control. The obtained results showed that the extract of Inula viscose possess considerable antioxidant, anticoagulant and antithrombotic effects, which qualified as an important source of bioactive compounds with potential interesting therapeutic applications.