Traditional uses of native plant species have not been well documented, especially in desert areas. As conservation measures of such floral species will not only be important as an ecological resource but also as a medicinal heritage. Acridocarpus orientalis (locally known as Qafas) is a good example of such a traditional medicinal plant. It has been used for treatment of inflammatory diseases and may have potential in cancer treatments. In the present study, the growth habits and habitats, as well as the medicinal effects were studied for the Qafas plant. We evaluated the species’ seed germination potentials, plant growth, antioxidant capability, polyphenolic content, anti-lipoxygenase and anti-histone deacetylase (HDAC) properties. The total antioxidant capacity was estimated by the FRAP, DPPH, ABTS and b-carotene bleaching assays.
Results/Conclusions
Percent germination in the laboratory experiment reached a maximum of 32%, 75 days into the trial. The rate of seed mortality was 64%. The low germination rate may have been a problem of acclimation to the greenhouse environment. Above ground growth rates have not also been comparable to other local desert floral species. Moreover, Qafas exhibited an average polyphenolic content of 184.24 mg gallic acid/g and an average antioxidant activity of 1.1 mmol ascorbic acid equivalent/g in the FRAP assays. Qafas also revealed anti-inflammatory properties via lipoxygenase (LOX) inhibitory activity (IC50 = 50.58 µg/mL) and a strong histone deacetylase (HDACs) inhibitory activity (IC50 = 93.28 µg/mL). The germination results of this study showed that Qafas seeds were not dormant. Soaking seeds in water proved to be the best treatment for the species to emerge. Qafas is not a fast growing plant, which may limit its geographical distribution. Our results also suggest that there were significant potentials for Qafas to be a good source of compounds with antioxidant, anti-LOX and HDAC properties.