Screening of Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Anti-Adipogenic, and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Five Selected Medicinal Plants of Nepal.

Introduction: Herbal products have been widely used for the treatment of diseases throughout the ages. In this research, we investigated antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-adipogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities of methanolic extracts of five ethnomedicinally important plants; namely, , , , , and .

Methods: We investigated the DPPH free radical scavenging potential, sensitivity of selected bacterial strains towards the extracts using a disc diffusion assay, anti-inflammatory activity in RAW-264.7 cells, and anti-adipogenic activity by the ORO assay in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes.

Results And Discussion: The extract of showed significant antioxidant activity (IC=4.838 g/mL), followed by , , and , exhibiting comparable IC values to that of ascorbic acid (IC=5.063 g/mL). also showed good antibacterial activity in disc diffusion methods, with remarkable zones of inhibition in (14.66 mm) and (15.50 mm) bacterial species. In addition, was found to increase adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells, evidenced by increased lipid deposition in differentiated 3T3-L1 cells. A similar pattern of increased adipogenesis was observed on treatment with extracts. On the other hand, effectively reduced lipid deposition in 3T3-L1 cells at 100 g/mL (75.18±6.42%) by inhibiting adipogenesis, showing its potential use in the management of obesity. Furthermore, 100 µg/mL (15.91±0.277 M) and 75 g/mL (12.52±0.05 M) and 100 µg/mL (11.77±0.33 M) significantly inhibited LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells. Also, and inhibited NO production significantly, endorsing their anti-inflammatory potential.

Conclusion: The findings from these in-vitro studies suggest that the selected five plants possess remarkable antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-adipogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities. This study opens the door to conduct further advanced in-vivo experiments to find possible lead compounds for the development of valuable therapeutic agents for common health problems.