Integrated experimental and In silico evaluation of the antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and antiproliferative activities of Boswellia neglecta S. Moore stem extract and its bioactive constituents
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Gashaw Nigussie
,
Aman Dekebo
,
Markos Abebe
Abstract
Boswellia neglecta has been traditionally used to treat leukemia, cancer, and skin diseases. In this study, seven compounds (1–7) were isolated from the stem methanol extract and identified for the first time from this species using NMR spectroscopy. GC-MS analysis revealed 17 compounds, with olean-12-en-3-one (32.59 %), oleic acid (13.79 %), and β-amyrin (10.66 %) as major constituents. Among the isolated compounds 7 showed the strongest antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC = 0.23 ± 0.11 mg/mL). Compounds 3–7 demonstrated promising antioxidant activity (IC50 = 1.29–7.05 μg/mL) compared with ascorbic acid (IC50 = 0.86 μg/mL). The methanol extract also exhibited significant cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells (27.25 % viability at 200 μg/mL) and antiviral activity against influenza A (H1N1) (IC50 = 1.5 μg/mL, SI = 21). Molecular docking revealed that compound 7 had strong binding affinity against P. aeruginosa DNA gyrase (−10.8 kcal/mol), surpassing ciprofloxacin (−6.9 kcal/mol). Compounds 3–7 also had stronger affinities (−5.1 to −6.5 kcal/mol) against human peroxiredoxin 5 and (−6.0 to −10.3 kcal/mol) against myeloperoxidase compared to ascorbic acid (−4.7 and −6.0 kcal/mol). These findings highlight the plant’s therapeutic potential, warranting further in vivo, preclinical, clinical, and mechanistic investigations.
Acknowledgments
GN acknowledges Armauer Hansen Research Institute and Adama Science and Technology University for sponsorship.
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Research ethics: This research study is in compliance with research and publishing ethics.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: GN: Investigation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing original draft, Writing review and editing. AD, MA, AM, MC and ME: Conceptualization, Visualization, Supervision, Writing review and editing. MH, AH. TN, MN, VZ, RE and AA: Data curation, Formal Analysis, Writing review and editing. All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large language models, AI, and machine learning Tools: The authors were not used for data collection, analysis, or interpretation in this study. All data was conducted using traditional methods. However, the author used ChatGPT solely for language improvement in the manuscript.
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Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Research funding: The work was funded by Armauer Hansen Research Institute and Adama Science and Technology University.
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Data availability: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article and Supplementary Material.
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