Abstract:

The present study investigates the evaluation of in vitro pharmacological activities of crude extracts (petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and n-butanol) obtained from the plant Scabiosa stellata L. The cytotoxicity of extracts was tested by Brine shrimp lethality method; the acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity was performed using Ellman's colorimetric method. The anti-arthritic activity was conducted by bovine serum albumin denaturation method, and the antioxidant activity was evaluated by six different methods including DPPH and ABTS radicals scavenging activities, reducing power, CUPRAC assay, ferrous ions and metal chelating assay. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity was estimated by agar disk diffusion assay against ten bacterial strains. The phytochemical screening of all the extracts revealed the presence of several types of secondary metabolites. The ethyl acetate extract recorded the highest content of polyphenols, flavonoids and tannins. All the crude extracts (PE, EtAOc and n-BuOH) had antioxidant activities in various assays and prevent the denaturation of bovin serum albumin in dose depending manner. A significant cytotoxic effect was observed for the n-butanolic extract with 57.2 ± 0.2% of mortality at 80 μg/mL, the ethyl acetate extract displayed a moderate anticholinesterase activity at 200 μg/mL. All the crude extracts showed antibacterial activity against most tested strains, with zones of inhibition ranging from 9 to 20 mm. The results indicate that the species S. stellata could be an important source of therapeutic agents against neurodegenerative inflammatory and infectious diseases.

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