Abstract
Teucrium polium
L. is commonly used in folk medicine to treat hypertension and diabetes and to heal wounds. The present work aimed to evaluate the different biological activities of
T. polium
hydroalcoholic extract, its total phenol and flavonoid content, and its mineral elements. Results showed that
T. polium
extract showed significant antioxidant potential in 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay with IC
50
equal to 8.68 μg/mL but with moderate activity in galvinoxyl assay with IC
50
of 21.82 μg/mL and mild activity in the
β
-carotene assay. It also showed a pronounced anti-hyperglycemic activity using α-amylase inhibitory assay (IC
50
= 111.68 µg/mL) and exceeds that of acarbose.
T. polium
showed excellent activity against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) with IC
50
values of 28.69 and 4.93 μg/mL, respectively, postulating its promising anti-Alzheimer potential. The plant extract exhibited a strong anti-inflammatory effect with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) denaturation inhibitory potential estimated by 97.53% at 2 mg/mL, which was further confirmed by the in vivo carrageen-induced edema model. The extract revealed its richness in flavonoids and phenols, evidenced by its polyphenols content (36.35 ± 0.294 μg GAE/mg) and flavonoids (24.30 ± 0.44 μg QE/mg). It is rich in minerals necessary for human health, such as calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, magnesium, manganese and zinc. Molecular docking performed for previously identified compounds on human
α
-amylase, 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) and acetylcholine esterase confirmed the results. Thus, it can be concluded that
T. polium
can be a good candidate for alleviating many health-debilitating problems and can be highly beneficial in the pharmaceutical industry and medical research.