Veronica rosea biomolecule profiling, antioxidant potential, dermoprotective effect, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic activities and enzyme inhibitory action

Introduction: Veronica rosea (Plantaginacea) has been previously studied from a phytochemical perspective. The present research intends to perform an in-depth investigation to identify more secondary metabolites in this plant and to explore its pharmacological potential.Methods: The ethyl acetate extract (EAE) of V. rosea was analysed with different chromatographic methods. The obtained pure products were analysed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry to identify the structures of the bioactive compounds. The therapeutic potential of EAE was investigated by per-forming several in vitro assays.Results: An advanced spectral analysis enabled the structures of 8 flavonoids to be elucidated. Considerable amounts of phenolic, flavonoid, tannin and anthocyanin compounds were detected in the following quantities: 158.8 +/- 0.4 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g, 179.48 +/- 9.86 mg quercetin equivalents (QE)/g dry extract, 36.44 +/- 3.37 mg tannic acid equivalents (TAE)/g dry extract and 7.47 +/- 0.45 mg cyanidin 3-glucoside (Cy-3-glu) equivalents/100 g of dry weight (DW), respectively. Strong evidence of the antioxidant activity of the EAE was established with diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH; 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) = 16.09 +/- 0.2 mu g/mL), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP; IC50= 5.87 +/- 0.096 mu g/mL) and total antioxidant capacity (172.741 +/- 6.17 mg EAA/mg extract). This antioxidant activity leads to important solar protection (solar protection factor (SPF) of 41.53 +/- 0.019 at a dose of 0.2 mg/ml). The EAE exerted a moderate to robust effect on stabilizing the red blood cell membrane compared to diclofenac, as well as haemostatic action, for which plasma recalcification times were significantly shortened. The extract inhibited acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activ-ities with IC50 = 121.6 +/- 03.29 mu g/mL and 108.94 +/- 4.24 mu g/mL, respectively, and significantly inhibited urease activity with an IC50 = 132.77 +/- 4.73 mu g/mL.Conclusion: The present findings indicate that V. rosea might be viewed as a potential source of bioactive mol-ecules to improve the prognosis of certain diseases.