Phytochemical and Biological Studies on Pulicaria incisa subspecies candolleana Family Asteraceae

Abstract

Pulicaria incisa sub. candolleana E-Gamal Eldin (Asteraceae) is one of the neglected wild plants growing in Egypt. This study includes in-depth phytochemical and biological investigations on P. incisa sub. candolleana essential oils and aqueous ethanolic extract in addition to in-silico molecular docking study of the isolated compounds as anti-inflammatory drugs on COX-2 and S-PLA-2. The composition of the essential oils extracted from leaves and flowers was analysed by GC-MS where 49 and 68 compounds were identified accounting for 86.69% and 84.29%, respectively of the total detected constituents. The cytotoxic activity of both essential oils was evaluated against hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HEPG-2, using MTT assay and vinblastine as a reference where leaf oil showed higher activity with IC50 11.4 μg/mL compared with 37.4 μg/mL for flower oil. Their antimicrobial activity was also evaluated using agar well diffusion method. The MIC of both essential oils against the tested bacterial and fungal strains was obtained in the range of 0.49 – 15.63 μg/mL.