Phytochemical and Pharmacological Evaluations of Ethanolic Extract of Bassia eriophora

Bassia eriophora (Schrad.) Asch. is one of the major and widely distributed wild plants belonging to family Chenopodiaceae and growing in northern Saudi Arabia. In this study, Phytochemical and biological evaluations of the ethanolic extract of B. eriophora have been studied. Six known compounds were isolated; Quercetin (1), Quercetin 7-O-b-D-glucoside (2), Isorhamnetin 3-O-b-D-glucoside (3), Tetradecane (4), Pentacosanol (5) and Pheophytin a (6). Structure elucidation of the isolated compounds was carried out based on different spectroscopic techniques (1H and DEPTQ- NMR, UV and Mass spectrometry) as well as by comparison with authentic samples whenever possible. Acute toxicity, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and skeletal muscle relaxant effects were tested for the ethanolic extract of the plant. The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of B. eriophora has a very low toxicity (LD50 of 33.4 g/kg). Additionally, the ethanolic extract in doses of 500 and 750 mg/kg showed significant analgesic effect using hot plate method. While doses of 250, 500 and 750 mg/kg exerted significant antiinflammatory activities as indicated by carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats and significant relaxing effect as indicated by motor coordination test. Furthermore, cytotoxic and antioxidant activities were performed on the pure isolated compounds (1-6). Compounds 1, 2 and 3 showed similar cytotoxic activity, ranging from mild to moderate effects against MCF-7, HepG-2 and HCT-116 cell lines. Compounds 1, 2, 3 and 6 showed significant antioxidant effect on DPPH free radical.