Exploring Elaeis guineensis: Enzyme inhibition, antimicrobial properties, chemical composition and in silico docking analysis

Abstract

For centuries, plants have been essential sources of food, shelter, and traditional medicine. With growing antimicrobial resistance and the side effects of modern drugs, there is an urgent need to explore natural remedies as safer therapeutic alternatives. Thus, we aimed to evaluate biological activities, chemical composition, and molecular docking of Elaeis guineensis. Total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), radical scavenging activity (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay, α-glucosidase, antimicrobial, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), and molecular docking were evaluated. The findings showed average values of 85.23% for DPPH, 57.2 mg/g dry weight for ferric FRAP, 140.4 mg/g Gallic Acid Equivalents for TPC, 120.2 mg/g Quercetin Equivalents (QE) for TFC, along with 65.01 ± 0.2% for α-glucosidase and 14.2 ± 0.2 mm for antimicrobial activity from the ethanol peel extracts. The virtual docking screening showed that compounds 8, 10, and 14 had better binding scores with MolDock scores between −106.05 and −108.94 kcal/mol than that of ciprofloxacin (−105.84 kcal/mol), with hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds playing the most crucial contributions in the molecular interactions. These combined in vitro and in silico findings imply that the peels of E. guineensis are rich in multifunctional phytochemicals that exhibit strong antioxidant, α-glucosidase, and antibacterial inhibitory properties.