Phytochemical screening showed that
J. multifida leaves powder are source of secondary metabolite. The presence of these secondary metabolites in the powder suggest the probable biological activities of the tested extracts. The preliminary screening reveals, in nitrogen compunds group, the presence of alkaloïds. The work realized by Rampadarath et al. [
23] and Hanafi et al. [
24] led to the same result with
J. multifida leaves collected respectively from different localities of Mauritius and Indonesia. It’s know that alkaloids have wide biological activities such as antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxydant and anticancer properties [
25]. In this study we noted the presence of tanins, flavonoids and saponins. The presence of flavonoids and saponins have earlier been reported in Nigeria by Aiyelaagbe [
26], in Niger by Nwokocha et al. [
27] and in Thailand by Chokchaisiri et al. [
28] during their work in the same plants. Tannins and flavonoids are reported to have antibacterial, antivirals, antifungals, and antioxidant potential. These compounds are also know to promote tissue regeneration in case of superficial burn injury [
29]. In addition, terpenics compounds are found in
J. multifida leaves, several study are also reported the presence of monoterpene, diterpenes and triterpenes [
30,
31]. Terpenes compound like others natural compounds have been reported by serveral authors to exert antimicrobial activities against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Terpens compounds have the capacity to promote cell rupture and inhibit protein and DNA synthesis [
32,
33]. Zhao et al. [
34] reported that terpene compounds play an important role in maintaining human health. They (terpene compounds) are known for their ability to treat several human diseases and are thus known as antimicrobial, anticancer, antiinflammatory, antioxidants, neuroprotective and many others agents. In the
J. multifida leaves powder, the absence of cyanogenic derivatives, is very important because these are the causes of toxicity due to the production of cyanide ions and manifested by the consecutive massive poisoning to ingestion of derivatives cyanogenic to acceleration and amplification of respiratory rate, respiratory depression, dizziness, headache, disturbance of consciousness, coma etc [
29]. The quantification of total phenolics and flavonoid, condensed and hydrolyzable tanins confirm the results obtained with qualitative tests. Mass spectrometry methodology with electrospray in positive ionization mode was used to identify polyphenolic compounds present in methanol
J. multifida leaves extract. Different phenolic and flavonoid compounds namely, 2-Hydroxybenzoic acid,
o-Coumaroylquinic acid, Apigenin-apiosyl-glucoside, Luteolin-galactoside, Luteolin-glucoside, Luteolin-rhamnoside, Quercetin-glucoside, Quercetin-arabinoside, Dicaffeoyquinic acid, Kaempferol-rhamnoside were identify. This study is one of the few works that have used this technic (LC-MS-ESI) for the analysis of
J. multifida compounds unlike the species
J. curcas and
J. gossipifolia. However, recent works [
24] have used the GC-MS technic to analysis volatile compounds of
J. multifida and thus demonstrate the diversity of secondary metabolites sources of biological activities of
J. multifida extracts. Indeed, the tested extracts shows antimicrobial activity with bactericidal effect through ethanolic extract on the used reference strains (
E. coli, S. enteridis, L. monocytogenes and
C. albicans). In addition, the dichloromethane extract has a bactericidal effect with on the meat isolated strains (
S. equorum, S. saprophiticus, S. haemoliticus and
S. lentus). Others study in Indonesia and Togo [
23,
35] are shows the antimicrobial activity of
J. multifida extracts. This antimicrobial activity can be attribuated to the tanins who exhibit antibacterial effects on Gram+ and Gram- bacteria. It has been reported in litterature [
36] that tannins exert their antibacterial activity by several mechanisms including the complexation with enzymes or bacterial substrates but also by permeability of the cell membrane. One the other hand, antimicrobial activity of these extracts can be attribuated to the alkaloids and Dicaffeoyquinic acid found in the
J. multifida leaves. The membrane of bacterial cells being made up of lipid bilayer and glycoproteins, it has been reported that one of the mechanisms action of alkaloids is part of them insertion into the lipid bilayer and their interaction with the part of sugars present followed by a chemical rearrangement resulting in cell lysis [
37]. Dicaffeoylquinic acids derived from
Youngia japonica, a biannual medicinal herb and the others plants, exhibited antibacterial activities [
38,
39,
40].
Outside of antimicrobial activity,
J. multifida leaves extracts shown antioxydant and antinflammatory activity. All of the tested extracts display a good antioxydant activity by the reduction of the DPPH radical, the ABTS radical cation, the feric ion (FRAP) and the lipid peroxidation (LPO). This activity can be link to the identified compounds in this study by LC-MS-ESI technic. Indeed, Luteolin-rhamnoside is the most abundant (19.73 mg/g) compound of
J. multifida leaves extracts. Also the compound such as Luteolin-glucoside, Quercetin-glucoside, Quercetin-arabinoside, and Kaempferol-rhamnoside are identified in the tested extrcat. The group of flavones includes luteolin, Luteolin-glucoside and those of flavonols such as quercetin and kaempferol have know for their various benefical activities due to their ability to modify their structure through chemical reactions such as hydroxylation, O-/C-glycosylation, O-methylation, and acylation [
41]. There are also know as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents [
42,
43]. Considering soluble messengers that ensure communications between immune system cells, compounds like luteolin and luteolin-glucoside found in
J. multifida extracts have been reported by several authors [
43,
44] to have the ability to regulate the production of proinflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6. This regulation therefore acts directly on the inflammatory pathways [
43,
44], thereby conferring anti-inflammatory activity of these molecules (luteolin and luteolin-glucoside). Although this mechanism was not evaluated in our study, extracts of
J. multifida showed good anti-inflammatory activities through the inhibition of protein denaturation (albumin) with IC
50 of 2.21±0.03 µg/mL. Other studies on experimental animal models and HEKn cells repported by Palombo et al. [
45] and Caporali et al. [
46] have also revealed the anti-inflammatory power of this molecule (luteolin-glucoside) found in
J. multifida leaves extracts. All these observations confirm the anti-inflammatory activity of
J. multifida extracts
Through four methods (DPPH, FRAP, ABTS and LPO),
J. multifida leaves extracts showed good antioxidant activity. This antioxidant potential would be linked to its composition in compounds identified in the present study like Kaempferol, luteolin, Qercetin which are known for their remarkable antioxidant activity. Among these compounds found in
J. multifida leaves extracts, the antioxidant properties of luteolin have been tested in vitro and in vivo models by other authors [
47] using NRK-52E rat kidney cells incubated with ochratoxin A (OTA). These authors came to the conclusion that luteolin treatment restor the antioxidant capacity of kidney cells through the activation of Nrf2 [
47]. Moreover, Alekhya et al. [
48] showed the dual action of this compound on the reduction of lipid peroxidation linked to the production of pro-inflammatory lipids, as well as DNA damage by upregulating HO-1 (heme oxygenase) alongside Nrf2, both necessary against oxidative stress. Luteolin-glucoside, Kaempferol derivated and Quercetin and its glucosides has also been shown their ability to inhibit the harmful action of free radicals inducing oxidative stress, a precursor to several diseases in different cellular systems [
49,
50,
51].