Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory, Analgesic, and Antiarthritic Potentialities of Methanolic Extract of Fruit Husk of Nypa fruticans Wurmb, Established by In Silico Analysis.

This study investigates the bioactive components and biological activities of the methanolic husk extract of Nypa fruticans Wurmb (MNF) through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The MNF extract was identified to contain several bioactive components, including alkaloids, glycosides, phenols, tannins, and resins, as established through preliminary phytochemical screening tests. After finding the presence of antioxidant components in the qualitative antioxidative assay, we went to conduct quantitative tests where the total contents of phenolics, flavonoids, and tannins were estimated as 179.43 ± 3.99 mg GAE/g, 179.43 ± 3.99 mg QE/g, and 29.25 ± 0.29 mg TAE/g, respectively. The extract demonstrated notable antioxidant activity in DPPH free radical scavenging (IC50 36.28 μg/mL) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (83.27% ± 0.02% reduction) assays. The extract demonstrated notable in vitro anti-inflammatory and antiarthritic properties in a dose-dependent manner, as indicated by human red blood cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization (74.63% ± 0.84% at 5000 μg/mL) and protein denaturation (88.77% ± 0.31% inhibition at 500 μg/mL), relative to standards. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of MNF extract was confirmed via an in vivo carrageenan-induced inflammatory study, showing an 85.49% reduction in edema at the maximum dosage of 600 mg/kg. The extract demonstrated significant (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, and p < 0.0001) and dose-dependent analgesic effects in acetic acid-induced writhing and formalin-induced pain assays. Molecular docking studies conducted with the selected compounds against potential targets identified 1-(3,6,6-trimethyl-1,6,7,7a-tetrahydrocyclopenta[c]pyran-1-yl) ethanone as the best candidate with promising analgesic and anti-inflammatory potential, demonstrated by its high binding affinity comparable to or exceeding that of the selected standard drugs. Our findings indicate that N. fruticans fruit husk may serve as a viable source of natural chemicals possessing antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antiarthritic properties, demonstrating potential therapeutic effects in alleviating diseases associated with inflammatory responses.