Antioxidant, Antifungal Activities of Ethnobotanical Ficus hirta Vahl. and Analysis of Main Constituents by HPLC-MS
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Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Postharvest Technology and Nondestructive Testing of Fruits and Vegetables, Collaborative Innovation Center of Postharvest Key Technology and Quality Safety of Fruits & Vegetables in Jiangxi Province, College of Agronomy, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
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Pingxiang University, Pingxiang 337055, China
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Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biomedicines 2020, 8(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8010015
Received: 18 December 2019 / Revised: 4 January 2020 / Accepted: 13 January 2020 / Published: 15 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Drug Discovery and Development)
The medicinal and edible plant, Ficus hirta Vahl. (also called hairy fig), is used for the treatment of constipation, inflammation, postpartum hypogalactia, tumors, and cancer. There is an urgent need for scientific evaluation to verify the pharmacological properties of F. hirta. Therefore, in vitro assays evaluated the antioxidant and antifungal activities of various solvent extracts of hairy fig fruits (HFF). HFF extracts had abundant antioxidant components for a significant amount of total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid contents (TFC) (TPC from 17.75 ± 0.52 to 85.25 ± 1.72 mg gallic acid/g dw and TFC from 15.80 ± 0.59 to 144.22 ± 8.46 mg rutin/g dw, respectively). The ethyl acetate extract (EAE) and acetone extract (AE) of HFF demonstrated potent antioxidant activities against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (IC50 values of 2.52 and 2.02 mg/mL, respectively) and ABTS radicals (IC50 values of 3.06 and 9.26 mg/mL, respectively). Moreover, the AE with a high TFC showed a prominent in vitro and in vivo antifungal activity against Penicillium italicum, causing citrus blue mold. Eighteen metabolites were identified or putatively identified from six HFF extracts. Current findings indicated that HFF extracts had significant antioxidant and antifungal activities and could potentially be used as an alternative agent for the preservation of agricultural products.