Abstract
Phytochemical investigation of the ethanolic extract of the aerial parts of
L. led to the isolation of four unsaturated fatty acids (
-
), including a new one (
), and four indole alkaloids (
-
). The structures of the isolated compounds were characterized with the help of spectroscopic techniques such as 1D, 2D NMR, and mass spectroscopy, and by correlation with the known compounds. In terms of their notable structural diversity, a molecular docking approach with the AutoDock 4.2 program was used to analyze the interactions of the identified fatty acids with PPAR-γ and the indole alkaloids with 5-HT
and 5-HT
, subtypes of serotonin receptors, respectively. Compared to the antidiabetic drug rivoglitazone, compound
acted as a potential PPAR-γ agonist with a binding energy of -7.4 kcal mol
. Moreover, compound
displayed the strongest affinity, with binding energies of -6.9 kcal/mol to 5HT
and -8.1 kcal/mol to 5HT
, using serotonin and the antipsychotic drug risperidone as positive controls, respectively. The results of docked conformations represent an interesting target for developing novel antidiabetic and antipsychotic drugs and warrant further evaluation of these ligands in vitro and in vivo. On the other hand, an HPTLC method was developed to quantify α-linolenic acid in the hexane fraction of the ethanol extract of
. The regression equation/correlation coefficient (r
) for linolenic acid was Y = 6.49X + 2310.8/0.9971 in the linearity range of 100-1200 ng/band. The content of α-linolenic acid in
aerial parts was found to be 28.67 μg/mg of dried extract.