This study aims to investigate the phytochemical composition, in-vitro (anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic) activities of the lipoidal matter (petroleum ether extracts; PEE1 and PEE2) of the leaves of Dypsis decaryi (D. decaryi) and Dypsis leptocheilos (D. leptocheilos). Family Arecaceae cultivated in Egypt. The unsaponifiable and saponifiable fractions (USF and SF) of D. decaryi and D. leptocheilos were assessed using GC/MS analysis. The identified compounds in the USF of both species represented 94.63 and 92.46 %, of which squalene (18.23, 17.99 %), α-amyrin methyl ether (11.84 and 9.10 %) and phytol (8.97, 7.21%) were the major compounds, respectively.
In the saponifiable fractions (SF), the percentage of identified saturated fatty acids were (62.49 and 79.42 %) with methyl palmitate (38.57 and 35.37%) as the major constituent, while the percentage of identified unsaturated fatty acids were (14.30 and 9.93 %) with methyl oleate (11.14 and 9.23%) as the major compound, respectively.
PEE of both species exhibited significant anti-oxidant capacities in scavenging free radicals by DPPH (IC50= 29.8±0.62 and 28.5±1.43 μg/mL) and ABTS (IC50=173.98±8.23 and 12.68±1.08 μg/mL) methods compared to ascorbic acid (IC50=38.72±0.26 and 10.65±0.81 μg/mL). PEE1 and PEE2 inhibited both COX-1 (IC50= 0.67±0.06 and 0.7±0.01 μM) and COX-2 (IC50= 0.049±0.001 and 0.103±0.006 μM) enzymes compared to indomethacin (IC50= 0.6±0.1 and 0.079±0.001 μM). Furthermore, PEE1 and PEE2 possess moderate anti-diabetic activity through in-vitro inhibition of α-amylase (IC50=107.16±4.57 and 41.81±2.85 μg/mL) compared to acarbose (IC50=14.54±0.86μg/mL). In-silico study using molecular based docking of α-amyrin methyl ether, arundoin, cycloartenol and 24-methylenecycloartan-3-oL revealed good binding tendencies to α-amylase.