Exploring the industrial importance of a miracle herb Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal: Authentication through chemical profiling, in vitro studies and computational analyses
Graphical Abstract
Introduction
Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Family: Solanaceae) has been listed among the top-rated medicinal plants. World Health Organization (WHO) has also recognized this plant as a precious medicinal herb [1]. National Medicinal Plant Board of India has listed W. somnifera among top 32 prime herbs due to its huge demand [2]. It is an important component of folk medicinal system being used as natural healer. People have used W. somnifera for thousands of years to relieve stress, increase energy level, and improve concentration [3], [4]. It is also a well-known herb in Pakistan, Africa and Middle East, where it is known as Ashwagandha or Asgandh; it is also called as Indian ginseng or winter cherry [5].
Powdered root extract has been reported to treat various health conditions like anxiety, fertility issues, inflammation, fatigue, pain, skin diseases, diabetes, arthritis and epilepsy or as a general tonic to increase energy and to decrease ageing process [6]. In addition to above conditions, it also improves sleep quality and bipolar disorder [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]. It is further reported to boost the immune system, increase the production of vital fluids, lymph blood, semen, cells, memory power and possesses immunomodulatory, hemopoietic, rejuvenation and antineoplastic effects [13]. W. somnifera enhances human physical performance, including strength and oxygen use during exercise [14], [15], [16]. The food supplements comprising extracts of this plant have been shown to increase male fertility by increasing testosterone level, sperm concentration, semen volume, and sperm motility [17], [18]. Extract of W. somnifera has also been reported to reduce inflammatory effects in COVID-19 patients when given as an Ayurvedic drug [19]. Another striking feature of this plant is that it exhibits chemo-preventive effects [20]. Visweswari and other research groups have identified wide range of secondary metabolic classes through chemical testing that includes phenols, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, glycosides and reducing sugar, which they held responsible for anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, anti-analgesic, neuroprotective and diuretic effects of this plant [21], [22]. Anil Bhatia and co-workers analyzed fruit extract of W. somnifera through GC-MS and NMR, and have reported 82 compounds of fatty acid, aliphatic and aromatic amino acid, polyol, sugar, sterol, tocopherol, phenolic acid and withanamides classes of secondary metabolites [23]. In another analytical study through LC-MS/MS, 32 withanamides, 22 withanolides, 3 steroidal saponins, 2 lignanamides, feruloyl tyramine, methoxy feruloyl tyramine and a diglucoside of hydroxyl palmitic acid were identified [24]. Alam and his co-workers have studied methanolic extracts of various parts of W. somnifera for its antioxidant and antibacterial bioactivities [25]. In Pakistan, W. somnifera is popular with name of Asgandh as an evergreen bush growing widely along the road sides and in fields. However, despite of its importance in folk medicine system, it is still an ignored herb in Pakistan, and has not got the status of cultivated plant on commercial grounds. The above literature revealed that this plant is intensively investigated in several capacities, however, it is known fact that environmental changes lead to change in metabolic profile of a plant species. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to offer a deep insight in to the chemical and pharmaceutical properties of W. somnifera growing in Cholistan Desert of Pakistan. For this purpose, various extracts of W. somnifera were investigated for their bioactive contents, complete metabolic picture and several in vitro and computational analyses. Most of these studies have been carried out first the time for this top-rated herb.
Section snippets
Collection of the plant material, extraction and fractionation
The aerial parts of W. somnifera were collected from Cholistan Desert at latitude of 28° 49′ 59.99′ N and longitude of 71° 39′ 59.99′ E, in district Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, during the plant's peak growing period i.e. first week of March 2021. The plant was identified by the plant taxonomist Dr. Zaheer Abbas, University of Education Lahore. A voucher specimen number WS-ZA-2021 has been deposited in the herbarium. The plant material was dried under shade for 20 days. A total of 2 Kg of the
Results and discussion
Methanolic extract (WS-M) of W. somnifera was divided into chloroform (WS-C), ethyl acetate (WS-E) and n-butanol (WS-B) soluble fractions, which were subjected to various studies for metabolic profiling and biological activities.
Conclusion
The present study led to conclude that W. somnifera growing in Cholistan Desert of Pakistan is rich in variety of secondary metabolites, mostly of phenolic, withanolide and limonoid classes of small organic compounds. Its extracts possess potential antioxidant properties, especially in ABTS free radical scavenging, metal reducing and metal-chelating assays, which generally could be attributed to its phenolic compounds. However, in literature, a steroidal lactone, withaferin A (WA) has been
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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