Unrivalled insight into possible biopharmaceutical application of Justicia vahlii Roth. (Acanthaceae).: Chemodiversity, in vitro bioactivities, and computational analysis

Abstract Justicia vahlii Roth. is an important wild medicinal food plant traditionally used for treating inflammation and various common ailments. This study investigated the chemical composition, antioxidant, enzyme inhibition and toxicity profiles of n ‐hexane ( n HEJv) and chloroform (CEJv) extracts of J. vahlii . Moreover, the effect of the extracts was evaluated on CCl 4 induced liver injury. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents were present in both extracts in significant amount. The UPLC−Q‐TOF‐MS and GC‐MS profiling of CEJv tentatively identified several important phytocompounds. The CEJv extract was comparatively more active for antioxidant activity and α ‐amylase inhibition, whereas the n HEJv extract presented higher inhibition potential against urease, tyrosinase, and α ‐glucosidase enzymes. Similarly, the in‐silico study of four major compounds, i. e., 1‐acetoxypinoresinol, 3‐hydroxysebacic acid, nortrachelogenin, and viscidulin‐III have shown a good docking score against the clinically significant enzymes. The acute oral toxicity and brine shrimp lethality assaysrevealed the extracts as non‐toxic. The CCl 4 treated animals showed a geared depletion of various antioxidant enzymes which were significantly reversed with the treatment of the extracts. Overall, the study's findings revealed J. vahlii with antioxidant mediated hepatoprotective and enzyme inhibition potential and warrant further research on isolation of the bioactive compounds.