An integrated investigation on taro vegetable (Colocasia gigantea Hook.f.) to ascertain its ethnomedicinal importance: insights into prospective phytochemicals regulating analgesic, antidiabetic, and cytotoxic actions

• C. gigantea exhibited notable cytotoxic (LC₅₀ = 2.49 µg/mL) potential. • In vivo tests showed 52.23% blood glucose reduction and 40–53% inhibition of writhing. • GC-MS analysis identified 38 bioactive phytochemicals. • High docking affinities (-8.4 to -4.4 kcal/mol) and favorable ADME/T profiles were observed. Colocasia gigantea Hook.f., locally known as ‘Kochu’ in Bangladesh, is an edible vegetable with multi-diversified health benefits. This study aimed to validate the traditional use of Colocasia gigantea as an analgesic, antidiabetic, and cytotoxic agent. In vitro brine shrimp lethality bioassay showed an LC 50 of 2.49 µg/mL, expressing its cytotoxic candidacy. Besides, in vivo glucose-induced hypoglycemic test showed a 52.23% decrease in blood glucose level after 3 hours of extract administration at 200 mg/kg-b.w. dose. Again, in vivo analgesic activity test deciphered 40.70% and 53.48% inhibition of writhing at 200 and 400 mg/kg-b.w. doses respectively. Besides, phytochemical screening followed by GC-MS analysis revealed thirty-eight (38) notable phytochemical groups and different bioactive phytochemicals. During thermodynamic analysis, C1 and C37 demonstrated a deficient free energy of -1489.288 and -1237.529 Hartree, respectively. In orbital analysis, C14 demonstrated the most favorable HOMO energy level at -7.672 eV. In contrast, C16 exhibited the lowest LUMO energy value at -2.054 eV. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap varied across the compounds, with C14 displaying the smallest gap of 5.275 eV. Besides, molecular docking analysis showed high binding affinity for corresponding receptors ranging from -8.4 to -4.1 kcal/mol for identified compounds. ADME/T predictions also resulted in auspicious outcomes, indicating their safety and drug-likeliness profile.