The flora of Kazakhstan is characterized by its wide variety of different types of medicinal plants, many of which can be used on an industrial scale. The Traditional Kazakh Medicine (TKM) was developed during centuries based on the six elements of ancient Kazakh theory, associating different fields such as pharmacology, anatomy, pathology, immunology and food nursing as well as disease prevention. The endemic Artemisia L. species are potential sources of unique and new natural products and new chemical structures, displaying diverse bioactivities and leading to the development of safe and effective phytomedicines against prevailing diseases in Kazakhstan and the Central Asia region. This review provides an overview of Artemisia species from Central Asia, particularly traditional uses in folk medicine and the recent numerous phytochemical and pharmacological studies. The review is done by the methods of literature searches in well-known scientific websites (Scifinder and Pubmed) and data collection in university libraries. Furthermore, our aim is to search for promising and potentially active Artemisia species candidates, encouraging us to analyze Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), α-glucosidase and bacterial neuraminidase (BNA) inhibition as well as the antioxidant potentials of Artemisia plant extracts, in which endemic species have not been explored for their secondary metabolites and biological activities so far. The main result of the study was that, for the first time, the species Artemisia scopiformis Ledeb. Artemisia albicerata Krasch., Artemisia transiliensis Poljakov, Artemisia schrenkiana Ledeb., Artemisia nitrosa Weber and Artemisia albida Willd. ex Ledeb. due to their special metabolites, showed a high potential for α-glucosidase, PTP1B and BNA inhibition, which is associated with diabetes, obesity and bacterial infections. In addition, we revealed that the methanol extracts of Artemisia were a potent source of polyphenolic compounds. The total polyphenolic contents of Artemisia extracts were correlated with antioxidant potential and varied according to plant origin, the solvent of extraction and the analytical method used. Consequently, oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be managed by the dietary intake of current Artemisia species. The antioxidant potentials of the species A. schrenkiana, A. scopaeformis, A. transiliensis and Artemisia scoparia Waldst. & Kitam. were also promising. In conclusion, the examination of details between different Artemisia species in our research has shown that plant materials are good as an antioxidant and eznyme inhibitory functional natural source.

In this study, the inhibitory potential of bacterial neuraminidase (NA) was observed on the leaves of Epimedium koreanum Nakai, which is a popular ingredient in traditional herbal medicine. This study attempted to isolate the relevant, responsible metabolites and elucidate their inhibition mechanism. The methanol extraction process yielded eight flavonoids (1–8), of which compounds 7 and 8 were new compounds named koreanoside F and koreanoside G, respectively. All the compounds (1–8) showed a significant inhibition to bacterial NA with IC₅₀ values of 0.17–106.3 µM. In particular, the prenyl group on the flavonoids played a critical role in bacterial NA inhibition. Epimedokoreanin B (compound 1, IC₅₀ = 0.17 µM) with two prenyl groups on C8 and C5′ of luteolin was 500 times more effective than luteolin (IC₅₀ = 85.6 µM). A similar trend was observed on compound 2 (IC₅₀ = 0.68 µM) versus dihydrokaempferol (IC₅₀ = 500.4 µM) and compound 3 (IC₅₀ = 12.6 µM) versus apigenin (IC₅₀ = 107.5 µM). Kinetic parameters (K_m, V_max, and K_ik/K_iv) evaluated that all the compounds apart from compound 5 showed noncompetitive inhibition. Compound 5 was proven to be a mixed type inhibitor. In an enzyme binding affinity experiment using fluorescence, affinity constants (K_SV) were tightly related to inhibitory activities.

This study aimed to search the α-glucosidase inhibitors from the barks part of Artocarpus elasticus. The responsible compounds for α-glucosidase inhibition were found out as dihydrobenzoxanthones (1–4) and alkylated flavones (5–6). All compounds showed a significant enzyme inhibition toward α-glucosidase with IC₅₀s of 7.6–25.4 μM. Dihydrobenzoxanthones (1–4) exhibited a competitive inhibition to α-glucosidase. This competitive behaviour was fully characterised by double reciprocal plots, Yang’s method, and time-dependent experiments. The compound 1 manifested as the competitive and reversible simple slow-binding, with kinetic parameters k₃ = 0.0437 µM⁻¹min⁻¹, k₄ = 0.0166 min⁻¹, and $K_{\mathrm{i}}^{\mathrm{app}}$= 0.3795 µM. Alkylated flavones (5–6) were mixed type I (K_I < K_IS) inhibitors. The binding affinities (K_SV) represented by all inhibitors were correlated to their concentrations and inhibitory potencies (IC₅₀). Moreover, compounds 1 and 5 were identified as new ones named as artoindonesianin W and artoflavone B, respectively. Molecular modelling study proposed the putative binding conformation of competitive inhibitors (1–4) to α-glucosidase at the atomic level.

Ikonnikovia kaufmanniana is an endemic plant of Kazakhstan of which phytochemical analysis has not been reported. The present study found out that this species enriched with antioxidant chemicals. Isolation and structural identification processes reveal twelve phenolic compounds (1–12) having dihydroflavanonol, flavonol, isoflavone and flavanol skeletons. The annotation of individual components in the extract was carried out by LC-ESI-MS/MS to represent a chemotaxonomic marker of the target plant. The antioxidant activities of all compounds were screened using three different radical sources (DPPH, ORAC, and hydroxyl radicals). Most compounds (1–11) had significant antioxidant activity against three radical sources, and their efficacies were found to differ by their functionality and skeleton. The potential of the isolated compounds in preventing oxidative damage of DNA was evaluated with pBR322 plasmid DNA. Compounds (1, 5, 7, and 8) had protective effects on DNA damaged with 80% efficacy at 60 μM concentration.