NEHA RAWAT, RITUMBHRA RAJPUT, AKSHAY KUMAR SHARMA, AMIT GUPTA AND NEHA PANDEY*
Department of Microbiology and Department of Biosciences, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Dehradun-
248 002 (Uttarakhand), India
*(e-mail: neha.pandey@geu.ac.in; Mobile: 60055 01338)
(Received: September 30, 2025; Accepted: November 14, 2025)
ABSTRACT
The central Himalayan state of Uttarakhand is endowed with an abundance of different medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), which have long been utilized in Siddha, Ayurveda and regional folk medicine. This study investigated whether the ethanolic leaf extract of Myrica esculenta modulated the production of nitric oxide (NO). This ethanolic leaf extract was prepared and determined for the existence of secondary metabolites using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and also by estimating the total phenolic and flavonoid content along with antimicrobial activity. Additionally, it was examined how they influenced the J774 macrophage cell line’s generation of NO and TNF-alpha pro-inflammatory cytokine production when stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that the ethanolic leaf extract contained terpenoids, phenolics and glycosides, as confirmed by HPTLC, and it also had a higher content of phenolics and flavonoids. In addition, leaf extracts showed significant antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory (protein denaturation and membrane stabilization) and cytotoxicity activity at higher concentrations. In a cell culture assay using the J774 cell line after 24-48 h of treatment with ethanolic leaf extract, the cells showed a significant decrease in NO production along with TNF alpha and IFN gamma for ethanolic leaf extract at a concentration of 1000 ìg/ml. Acetaminophen was the gold standard for suppressing NO generation at 1 µg/ml following 24 and 48 h (nearly 95% inhibition) in contrast to the ethanolic leaf extract of M. esculenta. These results demonstrated that extracts containing anti-inflammatory and macrophage-inhibiting compounds, may offer a different approach to treating various inflammatory illnesses.
Key words: Myrica esculenta, antioxidant activity, cell line, nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor