In vitro screening for β-hydroxy-β-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitory and antioxidant activity of sequentially extracted fractions of Ficus palmata Forsk.

Hypercholesterolemia-induced oxidative stress has been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, which is one of the major causes of mortality worldwide. The current work, for the first time, accounts the antioxidant, genoprotective, antilipoperoxidative, and HMG-CoA reductase (EC 1.1.1.34) inhibitory properties of traditional medicinal plant, Ficus palmata Forsk. Our result showed that among sequentially extracted fractions of Ficus palmata Forsk, FPBA (F. palmata bark aqueous extract) and FPLM (F. palmata leaves methanolic extract) extracts have higher phenolic content and also exhibited significantly more radical scavenging (DPPH and Superoxide) and antioxidant (FRAP) capacity. Moreover, FPBA extract also exhibited significantly higher inhibition of lipid peroxidation assay. Additionally, results showed almost complete and partial protection of oxidatively damaged DNA by these plant extracts when compared to mannitol. Furthermore, our results showed that FPBA extract (IC50 = 9.1 ± 0.61 µg/mL) exhibited noteworthy inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase activity as compared to other extracts, which might suggest its role as cardioprotective agent. In conclusion, results showed that FPBA extract not only possess significant antioxidant and genoprotective property but also is able to attenuate the enzymatic activity of HMG-CoA reductase, which might suggest its role in combating various oxidative stress-related diseases, including atherosclerosis.