In vitro and in silico Approach to Evaluate the Urease and Collagenase Inhibitory Activity of Embilica officinalis Gaertn Fruit

Abstract

In vitro and in silico Approach to Evaluate the Urease and Collagenase Inhibitory Activity of Embilica officinalis Gaertn Fruit Aim: The key virulent factors of bacteria are enzymes. Urease and collagenase enzyme play a vital role in pathogenesis of wide array of bacterial strains and cause numerous diseases. So the aim of present study was to find out the potent drug candidate from Emblica officinalis Gaertn. fruit for these pathogenically important enzymes. Study Design: A study was done to screen out the bacteria producing urease and collagenase from a stack of 19 bacterial strains and the positive strains were checked for their susceptibility to methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of Emblica officinalis Gaertn. fruit. Further extracts were investigated for their potential to antagonize these enzymes. Place and duration of study: Department of Biotechnology KUK, Jwahar Lal University, Delhi between February 2012 and December 2013. Methodology: Screening of bacteria and their susceptibility to methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of E. officinalis was done by using agar diffusion assay. Further investigation of extracts to antagonize urease and collagenase enzymes was checked by using phenol hypochlorite and gelatin diffusion assay respectively. GC-MS analysis, docking and ADME studies were conducted to screen for plant-based urease and collagenase inhibitors. Results: Methanol extract inhibited Jack bean urease enzyme (IC50:0.74 mg/ml) more potently than collagenase Type 1 (IC50:1.13 mg/ml), while ethyl acetate extract inhibited collagenase completely (IC50:4.19 mg/ml) and was observed to be more effective than methanol extract (IC50:5.51 mg/ml). GC-MS analysis revealed an array of 28 and 30 compounds in methanol and ethyl acetate extract respectively. In silico study identified xylenol and erucylamide as active compounds of E. officinalis having good binding score with better ADME properties compared to standard compounds. Conclusion: So our observations find application for the consideration of E. officinalis compounds for further validation towards development of effective drugs against these significant bacterial enzymes.