Antihypertensive Activity of Arabica Coffee Husks (Cascara) using Metabolomic Profiling and Molecular Docking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25186/.v21i.2408Abstract
Green coffee beans have been reported to lower blood pressure, and compounds derived from cascara arabica have shown potential anti-hypertensive activity. In this study, we investigated the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of these compounds and identified potential ACE inhibitors through metabolomic profiling and molecular docking analysis. Metabolomic data were processed using chemometric analysis, followed by molecular docking to assess the binding interactions of the compounds with the active site residues of the ACE and AGTR1 enzymes. LC-HRMS revealed that cascara arabica contained primarily caffeine, neochlorogenic acid, protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, trans-caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, and gallic acid. The docking results revealed the strongest binding site residues for quercetin-3β-D-glucoside, as well as for other docked compounds, including kaempferol, chlorogenic acid (5-CQA), neochlorogenic acid, gallic acid, and caffeic acid, which all exhibited good binding affinities with proteins 1O86 and 4ZUD. The activity of compounds was better than that of captopril, which was used as a positive control. The validation method of molecular docking was based on an RMSD value <2.00 Å for native ligand redocking, with RMSD values of 0.45 Å for the lisinopril ligand and 1.92 Å for the olmesartan ligand. Binding affinity scores for ACE protein controls were captopril at –5.50 Å and lisinopril at –8.10 Å, whereas for AGTR1 protein controls, candesartan was –8.90 Å and olmesartan was –9.80 Å. Results showed that the compounds from cascara arabica could be serve as an initial benchmark in determining potential drug compounds.
Key words: Angiotensin; agtr1; captopril; chlorogenic acid; caffeic acid.
References
Agu, P. C. et al. (2023). Molecular docking as a tool for the discovery of molecular targets of nutraceuticals in diseases management. Scientific Reports, 13:13398.
Ali, A. et al. (2022). A Comparative study for nutritional and phytochemical profiling of coffea arabica (C. arabica) from different origins and their antioxidant potential and molecular docking. Molecules, 27(16):5126.
Budiarto, D. et al. (2023). Study of anthocyanin molecule blocking as anti-hypertensive through the pathway of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). Indonesian Journal of Chemical Research, 11(1):49-58.
Burdan, F. (2015). Caffeine in coffee. In V. R. Preedy. Coffee in health and disease prevention. Elsevier Inc. (pp. 201-207).
Cangeloni, L. et al. (2022). Characterization of extracts of coffee leaves (Coffea arabica L.) by spectroscopic and chromatographic/spectrometric techniques. Foods, 11(16):2495.
Feinstein, W. P., & Brylinski, M. (2015). Calculating an optimal box size for ligand docking and virtual screening against experimental and predicted binding pockets. Journal of Cheminformatics, 7:18.
Frimayanti, N. et al. (2021). Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation of 1,5-benzothiazepine chalcone derivative compounds as potential inhibitors for Zika virus helicase. Jurnal Riset Kimia, 12(1):44-52.
Gohlke, H. et al. (2000). Knowledge-based scoring function to predict protein-ligand interactions. Journal of Molecular Biology, 295:337-356.
International Agency for Research on Cancer - IARC. (1993). Some naturally occurring substances: food items and constituents, heterocyclic aromatic amines and mycotoxins. (No Title).
Kamyab, R. et al. (2021). Medicinal plants in the treatment of hypertension: A review. Advanced Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 11(4):601-617.
Lee, K. M. et al. (2017). Application of metabolomics to quality control of natural product derived medicines. Biomolecules and Therapeutics, 25(6):559-568.
Machado, M. et al. (2023). Bioactive potential and chemical composition of coffee by-products: From pulp to silverskin. Foods, 12(12):2354.
Magiera, A. et al. (2025). Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of vanillic acid in human plasma, human neutrophils, and non-cellular models in vitro. Molecules, 30:467.
Maliza, R. et al. (2021). The Effect of Coffee Arabica (Coffea arabica L.) Fruit Skin Extracts on Small Intestine Morphometry of mice (Mus musculus L.) with Ethanol-Induced. Bioscience, 5(1):21.
Owoloye, A. J. et al. (2022). Molecular docking, simulation and binding free energy analysis of small molecules as Pf HT1 inhibitors. PLoS ONE, 17(8):e0268269.
Pinzi, L., & Rastelli, G. (2019). Molecular docking: Shifting paradigms in drug discovery. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(18):4331.
Ramírez, D., & Caballero, J. (2018). Is it reliable to take the molecular docking top scoring position as the best solution without considering available structural data? Molecules, 23(5):1038.
Roberts, L. D. et al. (2012). Targeted metabolomics. Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, 98:30.
Rueangsri, N. et al. (2025). Metaproteomic analysis of fermented vegetable formulations with lactic acid bacteria: a comparative study from initial stage to 15 days of production. Foods, 14:1148.
Seo, S. et al. (2021). Binding affinity prediction for protein–ligand complex using deep attention mechanism based on intermolecular interactions. BMC Bioinformatics, 22:542.
Silva, M. de O. et al. (2021). Obtaining bioactive compounds from the coffee husk (Coffea arabica L.) using different extraction methods. Molecules, 26(1):46.
Sirotkin, A. V., & Kolesarova, A. (2021). The anti-obesity and health-promoting effects of tea and coffee. Physiological Research, 70(2):161-168.
Sun, S. et al. (2024). Polyphenols in health and food processing: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant insights. Frontiers in Nutrition, 11:1456730.
Tabassum, N., & Ahmad, F. (2011). Role of natural herbs in the treatment of hypertension. Pharmacognosy Reviews, 5(9):30-40.
Terefe, E. M., & Ghosh, A. (2022). Molecular docking, validation, dynamics simulations, and pharmacokinetic prediction of phytochemicals isolated from croton dichogamus against the HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase. Bioinformatics and Biology Insights, 16.
Vaidyanathan, R. et al. (2023). Molecular docking approach on the binding stability of derivatives of phenolic acids (DPAs) with human serum albumin (HSA): hydrogen-bonding versus hydrophobic interactions or combined influences? JCIS Open, 12:100096.
Waris, M. et al. (2022). Metabolomics analysis insight into medicinal plant science. TRAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 157:116795.
Wu, H. et al. (2021). Caffeic acid ameliorates angiotensin II-induced increase in blood pressure by activating vascular sarco-/endoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase2a. Journal of Hypertension, 39:e248-e249.
World Health Organization - WHO. (2023). Global report on hypertension: the race against a silent killer. World Health Organization.
Windarsih, A. et al. (2022). Untargeted metabolomics and proteomics approach using liquid chromatography-Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry to detect pork adulteration in Pangasius hypopthalmus meat. Food Chemistry, 386:132856.
Zhao, Y. et al. (2012). Antihypertensive effects and mechanisms of chlorogenic acids. Hypertension Research, 35(4):370-374.
Zhu, D. et al. (2022). Untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approach unveils molecular changes in heat-damaged and normal soybean. LWT, 171:114136.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Coffee Science - ISSN 1984-3909The copyright of the articles published in this journal belongs to the authors, with the journal holding the first publication rights. As the articles are published in this journal under open access, they may be freely used, with proper attribution, for educational and non-commercial purposes