Investigation of nepetolide as a novel lead compound: Antioxidant,antimicrobial, cytotoxic,anticancer, anti-inflammatory,analgesic activities and molecular docking evaluation

In the present study, we describe various pharmacological effects and computational analysis of nepetolide, a tricyclic clerodane-type diterpene, isolated from Nepeta suavis. Nepetolide concentration-dependently (1.0–1000?µg/mL) exhibited 1,1-diphenyl,2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity with maximum effect of 87.01?±?1.85%, indicating its antioxidant potential, as shown by standard drug, ascorbic acid. It was moderately active against bacterial strain of Staphylococcus aureus. In brine shrimp’s lethality model, nepetolide potently showed cytotoxic effect, with LC₅₀ value of 8.7?µg/mL. When evaluated for antitumor activity in potato disc tumor assay, nepetolide exerted tumor inhibitory effect of 56.5?±?1.5% at maximum tested concentration of 1000?µg/mL. Nepetolide at 20?mg/kg reduced carrageenan-induced inflammation (P?In-silico investigation of nepetolide was carried out against cyclooxygenase-2, epidermal growth factor receptor and lipoxygenase-2 targets. Virtual screening through Patchdock online docking server identified primarily hydrophobic interactions between ligand nepetolide and receptors proteins. Enhanced hydrogen bonding was predicted with Autodock showing 6–8 hydrogen bonds per target. These results indicate that nepetolide exhibits antioxidant, antibacterial, cytotoxic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities and should be considered as a lead compound for developing drugs for the remedy of oxidative stress-induced disorders, microbial infections, cancers, inflammations and pain.