Volume 20, Issue 45, January - June, 2026

Bioactivity-Guided Isolation and In Silico Molecular Studies of Anti Bitis arietans Venom from Faidherbia albida (Delile) A. Chev Root-Bark Extracts

Ibrahim Sani¹, Angela Nnenna Ukwuani-Kwaja¹, Amina Yusuf Jega², Abdulhamid Zubairu^1♦, Fatima Bello¹

¹Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Abdullahi Fodio University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Nigeria
²Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria

^♦Corresponding author
Abdulhamid Zubairu, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Abdullahi Fodio University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Snake venoms contain several life-threatening toxins, while conventional therapies are available for the snake envenoming. The limitations of these antivenins have driven recent research toward the isolation and characterization of plant-derived antivenin compounds that complement synthetic antivenins. This research is designed to conduct bioactivity-guided isolation and in silico molecular studies of anti-Bitis arietans venom from Faidherbia albida root-bark extracts. Solvent fractionation, column, and thin-layer chromatography were used for the extraction and isolation of the plant compound. For the in-vivo studies, Albino rats were grouped into eight (8) groups of four (4) animals each: group I: normal control, group II: induced control, group III: antivenin control, groups IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII received crude methanol extract, hexane, ethyl-acetate, butanol, and aqueous fractions respectively. Each at 300mg/kg body weight. Chromatographic techniques (column and thin-layer), GC-MS, FTIR and UV were used to isolate and identify the most potent fraction. Standard procedures were employed to determine venom phospholipase A2 and metalloproteinase inhibition in identifying the most active chromatographic fraction. In silico studies were used to conduct molecular docking. F. albida root aqueous fraction exhibits a significantly (P<0.05) higher average survival time compared to other fractions. Twenty-one (21) pooled fractions were obtained from the column and thin-layer chromatography of the most potent fraction. Pool chromatographic fraction 18 (PCF-18) exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against B. arietans venom phospholipase A2 and metalloproteinase. GCMS, FTIR and UV of the PCF-18 revealed that alpha-methyl cinnamic acid chloride is the principal constituent of the fraction. In silico studies showed that alpha-methyl cinnamic acid chloride has strong binding affinities of -4.3 and -6.3 with phospholipase A2 and metalloproteinase respectively. Hence, this study isolated and identified the antivenom compound from the aqueous extract of F. albida root-bark and documented enzyme inhibition as one of the possible mechanisms of action by which the compound; alpha-methyl cinnamic acid chloride exerts its antivenom activity against B. arietans venom.

Keywords: Bitis arietans, Venom, Faidherbia albida, Bioactivity-guided isolation, In Silico

Drug Discovery, 2026, 20(45), e4dd3039

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Published: 18 January 2026