Phytochemical Analysis and Evaluation of Genotoxic, Antigenotoxic Effects in Bacterial Models, and Hypoglycemic Activity of <i>Epilobium angustifolium</i> L. with Bioguided Isolation of Active Compounds

This study examined the effects of methanol extract and its sub-extracts from Epilobium angustifolium on alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase activity. Secondary metabolites and amino acids were quantified using LC-MS/MS. Dichloromethane sub-extract displayed the highest activity and was chosen for further investigation. Despite the widespread use of E. angustifolium, genotoxicity studies were conducted to assess its safety. Dichloromethane significantly inhibited alpha-glucosidase (IC50=17.340 mu g/mL), making it approximately 293 times more effective than acarbose. Six known compounds, including gallic acid (1), a mixture of quercetin-3-O-alpha-galactoside (2a) and quercetin-3-O-alpha-glucoside (2b), quercetin-3-O-alpha-glucuronic acid (3), quercetin-3-O-alpha-rhamnoside (4), and kaempferol-3-O-alpha-rhamnoside (5) were identified. Quercetin-3-O-alpha-rhamnoside exhibited the highest inhibition of alpha-glucosidase (IC50=1735 +/- 85 mu M), making it 3.70 times more effective than acarbose. Dichloromethane also showed significant antigenotoxic activity against mutagenesis induced by NaN3, 9-AA, 4-NPD, and MNNG. Gallic acid was found in the highest abundance (13253.6931 ng/mL) in the methanolic extract. Furthermore, L-Aspartic acid was the most concentrated amino acid (363.5620 nmol/mL) in the methanolic extract.