anti-oxidant, anti-malarial, and phytochemical studies on muscari inconstrictum bulbs distributed in iran

Background: muscari inconstrictum rech. f. is an ornamental and bulbous species with various medicinal and biological effects. objectives: this study was designed to evaluate the anti-oxidant and anti-malarial activities of m. inconstrictum as one of the iranian species of muscari genus. additionally, preliminary phytochemical investigation of the extracts with different polarity was performed. methods: m. inconstrictum bulbs were extracted with n-hexane, chloroform, and methanol (meoh) by soxhlet apparatus, in the order of their polarity. next, vacuumliquid chromatography (vlc) was used for the fractionation of extracts. free radical scavenging and anti-malarial activities were investigated via dpph (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and cell-free β-hematin formation methods. thin layer chromatography (tlc) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms) were used for the characterization of potent fractions. results: among different extracts of m. inconstrictum, bulbs, chloroform, and n-hexane extracts were the most potent anti-oxidant and anti-malarial extracts, respectively. moreover, methanolic, 80% and 100% ethyl acetate/n-hexane vlc fractions of chloroform extract showed significant anti-oxidant activities, which can be related to the presence of flavonoid and coumarin structures. furthermore, 40% ethyl acetate/n-hexane vlc fraction of n-hexane extract with saponin structures is introduced as the most potent anti-malarial part. gc-ms analysis of methanol fraction of chloroform extract, 40% ethyl acetate/n-hexane vlc fraction of n-hexane extract, and the volatile oil of plant demonstrated the presence of phenolic monoterpenoid, fatty acid derivatives, and sesquiterpenoid structures as the main ingredients, respectively. conclusions: it seems that more studies on m. inconstrictum are necessary to focus on pure compounds and their biological activities.