Barnûf leaves: antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antithyroid, and anticancer properties

Barnûf (Pluchea dioscoridis L.) is a wild plant that grows in Egypt. Barnûf leaves are utilized as a folk medicine, as well as part of food and drink formulations. Their numerous biological benefits include anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. We examined the antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antithyroid, and anticancer activities of methanol, ethanol, and acetone extracts of barnûf leaves. The methanol extract exhibited the highest total phenolic (241.50 ± 3.71 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoid (256.18 ± 3.19 mg QE/g extract) contents. All three extracts proved to possess good antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antithyroid, and anticancer activities. Ellagic acid was the most abundant phenolic acid in the methanolic (30.33%) and ethanolic (24.71%) extracts. The antioxidant experiments revealed that the methanolic extract had potent DPPH• (IC50 = 18.21 μg/mL) and ABTS•+ (IC50 = 17.6 μg/mL) scavenging properties. The acetone extract demonstrated the highest antimicrobial activity against gramnegative bacteria. Regarding α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition, the methanolic extract showed the most potent activity with IC50 values of 104.28 ± 1.97 and 133.76 ± 2.09 μg/mL, respectively. The methanolic extract also proved to be the strongest inhibitor of lipase and thyroid peroxidase, with IC50 values of 127.35 and 211.2 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, the methanolic extract showed the strongest anticancer activity against MCF7-1 and H1299-1 lines with IC50 values of 29.3 and 18.4 μg/mL, respectively. The findings suggest that barnûf leaf extracts could be used in functional foods and pharmaceuticals.