Chemical characterization of Dicliptera bupleuroides aerial parts and evaluation of its anti‐inflammatory potential in vitro, in vivo and in silico

This study aimed to evaluate the anti‐inflammatory activity of Dicliptera bupleuroides methanol extract (DBM) and its fractions. The samples showed significant inhibition of cyclooxygenase where DBM showed the highest inhibitory potential at 100 µg/mL estimated by 67.86%.. At a 400 mg/kg dose, all the samples showed pronounced results in carrageenan induced acute inflammation in rat model with DBM showed the highest efficiency displaying 65.32% inhibition compared to the untreated rats. Formalin model was also employed, DBM exhibited 65.33% and 69.39% inhibition at 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively approaching the standard drug. High performance liquid chromatography  revealed the presence of caffeic acid, gallic acid, quercetin and myricetin in DBM. Gas chromatography coupled with mass chromatography analysis of its n‐hexane fraction revealed the presence of 16 compounds belonging to fatty acids and sterols accounting for 85.26% of the total detected compounds. Molecular docking showed that hexadecanoic acid followed by decanedioic acid had the best fitting within cyclooxygenase‐II while nonacosane followed by hexatriacontane  possessed pronounced fitting within the 5‐lipoxygenase active site. ADMET/ TOPKAT prediction concluded that most of the detected compounds showed reasonable pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and toxicity properties that could be further modified to be more suitable for incorporation in pharmaceutical dosage forms.