Analysis of Different Bioactive Compounds in Water Cress (Enhydra fluctuans Lour) by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Enhydra fluctuans Lour (Asteraceae) is an aquatic plant species common in South Asia. It is a medicinal plant used for many years as a remedy in the traditional medicine. The leaves of this floating marsh herb were used in folk medicine for their laxative activities and for herpetic treatment. The current study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities and to analysis different bioactive compounds as well as phytochemical constituents from the ethanol extract of Enhydra fluctuans. The yield of ethanol extract was found 3.3% w/w. Plant extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening which revealed the presence of alkaloid, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides, steroids and saponin. In-vitro antibacterial activity was evaluated using disc diffusion method. The extract showed no antibacterial activity against three strains of E. coli in comparison of kanamycin. Following qualitative indication of the presence of antioxidant component(s), 4 polyphenolic compounds were identified from crude extract by HPLC analysis while 5 and 2 polyphenolic compounds were identified from aqueous ethanol and n-Hexane fractions respectively. It is the first time when widely recognized bioactive polyphenolic compounds are detected in E. fluctuans extract. The findings of this study provide evidence that the extract of E. fluctuans possess significant antioxidative bioactive compounds, suggesting that this plant is a potential source of natural products with chemo-preventive and chemotherapeutic activities.