Phytochemical and biological assessment of medicinally important plant Ochradenus arabicus

Jabal al-akhdar (oman) is one of diverse floral region of arabian peninsula. ochradenus arabicus,is an important medicinal plant to local people of the area. however,little is known about its potential role in biological activities against various emerging ailments. the collected plant samples were extracted with methanol and fractionated into n-hexane (joah),ethyl acetate (joae),chloroform (joac),n-butanol (joab) and water (joaaq). various concentrations of these fractions were tested for their antimicrobial,anticancer,antioxidant,antidiabetic,phenolics,flavonoids,allopathic and nutrition quality properties. the results showed that fruits and leaves of o. arabicus have higher levels of carbohydrate,crude fats,fibres,proteins,moisture,ash and energy values. in phytotoxic activities,joaaq inhibited the lettuce seed germination and growth. the anticancer activities of fractions showed that joae,joab and joaaq are potent to reduce the cancer cell viability of ht29,hct116,hepg2 and mcf-7 lines with a concentration of 1000 μg/ml. joab showed a meagre activity of 12% in α-glucosidase inhibition assay. the total phenolic and flavonoid contents were significantly higher in joae,which also resulted in higher dpph radical scavenging activity as compared to other fractions and control. joae also exhibited higher antibacterial and antifungal activities. the results of current findings suggest that o. arabicus is a potential medicinal plants,which could be subjected to advance column chromatography for lead compounds using a bioassay guided approach. © 2014,pak. j. bot. all rights reserved.