Evaluation of Anti-Hyperlipidemic Activity of the Seeds Extracts of Ficus carica: In Vitro and In Silico Approaches

Abstract

Obesity and hyperlipidemia have become major disorders predominantly causing prevailing cardiovascular diseases and ultimately death. The prolonged use of anti-obesity drugs and statins for reducing obesity and blood lipid levels is leading toward adverse effects of kidneys and muscles, specifically rhabdomyolysis. The objective of this study is to evaluate potential of seeds of Ficus carica against hyperlipidemia. Various extracts and isolated compounds from fig seeds were analyzed and evaluated for their anti-hyperlipidemic potential. Methanol extract and its ethyl acetate fraction showed maximum pancreatic lipase inhibition of 61.93% and 86.45% in comparison to reference drug Orlistat. Four compounds isolated by HPLC-PDA technique were determined as Gallic acid, Catechin, Epicatechin, and Quercetin also showed strong potential to inhibit enzyme pancreatic lipase comparable to Orlistat. These isolated compounds were further analyzed for molecular docking and MM-GBSA studies. Three ligands, namely Quercetin, Epicatechin, and Catechin were found more effective against pancreatic lipase as these possessed docking scores (−9.881, −9.741, −9.410) higher to that of the reference ligand Orlistat (−5.273). The binding free energies of these compounds were −55.03, −56.54, and 60.35 kcal/mol, respectively. The results have shown that Quercetin has the highest binding affinity correlating with the highest inhibition of pancreatic lipase enzyme 1LPB. Hence, it is suggested that seeds of F. carica have promising anti-hyperlipidemic potential and foremost in reducing obesity.