Abstract
(Sapindaceae) was collected from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For the simultaneous measurement of quercetin and kaempferol, a validated high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) approach was devised in
leaf extract. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using diphenyl 1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assays. Moreover, the cytotoxic effect was tested against three cancer cell lines A549, HepG2, and MDA-MB-231. The potential anti-inflammatory properties of different fractions of
were also evaluated using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced THP-1 macrophages cells. The test samples include a crude extract of leaves and its solvent-soluble fractions of
. The results showed that the crude extract and its fractions exhibited various significant biological activities, the fraction of chloroform demonstrated the highest free radical scavenging activity with IC
values: 172.2 and 257.7 µg/mL for both DPPH and ABTS tests. Additionally, the chloroform fraction had the greatest cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 (IC
values: 24.6 ± 0.4 µg/mL). Moreover, the chloroform fraction exhibited the highest downregulation of the LPS-induced expression of TNF-α and IL-6. Quercetin and kaempferol were estimated concurrently in leaves crude extract using a validated technique on an HPTLC plate (10 cm
× 10 cm
) with a combination of toluene–ethyl acetate–formic acid (5:4:0.2; v/v/v) as the mobile phase and a
of 254 nm. The amount of quercetin and kaempferol was found to be 31.8 and 15.01 mg/g of dried leaf extract, respectively. The presence of high levels of quercetin and kaempferol in
leaves extract could explain its remarkable antioxidant, cytotoxic, and anti-inflammatory effects. The devolved HPTLC method can be used for routine analysis and standardization of
crude plant material, extracts, and/or finished products using quercetin and kaempferol as appropriate markers.