Abstract
Objective: Oxidative stress causes multidirectional damage including different types of cancers in our body by affecting the normal physiological functions of the cells and tissues. The objective is to study the cytotoxic and antioxidant potential of natural compounds isolated from fruits of Z. armatum DC. Methods: This study was designed to investigate the chemical nature as well as biological effects of natural compounds. The isolated compounds were tested for antioxidant effect in various ways e.g. DPPH free radical inhibition, ferric reducing effect, superoxide dismutase, and catalase evaluation. The cytotoxic effect of isolated compounds was evaluated using HepG2 cancer cells. Results: Chemical investigations on the fruits of Z. armatum DC, led to the isolation of two new compounds characterized as (cis)-2, 8-dimethyl-non-5-en-8-ol-2-olyl benzoate (1), (cis)-2, 10-dimethylundec-7-en-10-ol-2-olyl benzoate (2) along with five known compounds such as n-dodecanyl linoleniate (3), n-octacos-10, 20-dienoic acid (4), (cis, cis)-dotriacont-6, 12-dienoic acid (5), lignoceric acid (6), and (cis, cis)-dotriacont-6, 8-dienoic acid (7). Compound 1 shows potent activity against HepG2 cancer cells in comparison 2 and significantly affected the viability of cells till 48 hrs. The highest antioxidant potential among compounds and extracts with respect to DPPH free radical inhibition and the ferric reducing effect was shown by compound 1 followed by 2 and 7 with an EC50 value of 19.44, 20.44 and, 22.46 respectively. Conclusions: The present study indicates that compound (1) showed a significant effect against HepG2 cancer cells as well as antioxidant potential through DPPH and FRAP methods. Compounds 2 and 7 also proved to be useful up to some extent for antioxidant potential. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).