Phytochemical Screening, Pharmacological Evaluation, and Exploratory In Silico Analysis of Emilia sonchifolia Extract and Solvent Fractions

ABSTRACT Emilia sonchifolia (L.) DC. is a medicinal plant used traditionally for the management of several disorders; however, integrated experimental evaluation of its pharmacological properties remains limited. This study evaluated the phytochemical composition and selected biological activities of the methanolic whole‐plant extract of E. sonchifolia (MEES) and its solvent‐partitioned fractions and explored possible molecular interactions of literature‐reported pyrrolizidine alkaloids using computational approaches. Qualitative phytochemical screening, brine shrimp lethality, 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical‐scavenging, total phenolic content, in vitro clot‐lysis, human red blood cell membrane‐stabilization, antibacterial disc‐diffusion, acute oral toxicity, antinociceptive, castor oil‐induced antidiarrheal, and oral glucose‐tolerance assays were performed. Ten pyrrolizidine alkaloids previously reported from E. sonchifolia were additionally evaluated by molecular docking and in silico pharmacokinetic and toxicity‐prediction tools. Acute oral toxicity testing demonstrated that MEES was tolerated in mice under the conditions of the study, with no mortality or observable signs of toxicity observed up to 3000 mg/kg during the observation period. The chloroform fraction showed the lowest LC 50 in the brine shrimp assay (4.18 µg/mL), whereas the aqueous fraction and MEES showed DPPH IC 50 values of 11.10 and 11.45 µg/mL, respectively. The petroleum ether fraction produced 41.41% in vitro clot lysis, and the extracts showed modest antibacterial and membrane‐stabilizing activities. MEES also produced dose‐dependent antinociceptive and antidiarrheal effects in mice. Molecular docking generated predicted interactions between the literature‐reported alkaloids and selected protein targets; however, these compounds were not chemically confirmed in the extracts used in the present experiments, and the computational findings should therefore be interpreted as hypothesis‐generating rather than evidence of target engagement. Collectively, the results demonstrate several preliminary biological activities of E. sonchifolia extract. These findings remain preliminary, and further chemical characterization and mechanistic studies are required to validate the active constituents and biological mechanisms.