Abstract
Ozoroa insignis Del. is an ethnobotanical plant widely used in traditional medicine for various ailments, including schistosomiasis, tapeworm, and hookworm infections. From the so far not investigated fruits of Ozoroa insignis, the anthelmintic principles could be isolated through bioassay-guided isolation using Caenorhabditis elegans and identified by NMR spectroscopic analysis and mass spectrometric studies. Isolated 6-[8(Z)-pentadecenyl] anacardic (1), 6-[10(Z)-heptadecenyl] anacardic acid (2), and 3-[7(Z)-pentadecenyl] phenol (3) were evaluated against the 5 parasitic organisms Schistosoma mansoni (adult and newly transformed schistosomula), Strongyloides ratti, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, Necator americanus, and Ancylostoma ceylanicum, which mainly infect humans and other mammals. Compounds 1–3 showed good activity against Schistosoma mansoni, with compound 1 showing the best activity against newly transformed schistosomula with 50% activity at 1µM. The isolated compounds were also evaluated for their cytotoxic properties against PC-3 (human prostate adenocarcinoma) and HT-29 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma) cell lines, whereby compounds 2 and 3 showed antiproliferative activity in both cancer cell lines, while compound 1 exhibited antiproliferative activity only on PC-3 cells. With an IC50 value of 43.2 µM, compound 3 was found to be the most active of the 3 investigated compounds.
Highlights
Human nematode infections are the most prevalent infections, affecting 1.5 billion people or 24% of the world’s population [1]
The anthelmintic activity of 80% methanol crude extracts of stem bark, leaves, roots, and fruits of O. insignis was evaluated using C. elegans as a model organism and revealed that the extract of fruits was the most active with mortality activity of 91.73 ± 6.05% compared to the extracts of roots, leaves and stem bark which had 35.11 ± 2.91%, 17.58 ± 3.28%
This study provides scientific evidence of the anthelmintic activity of O. insignis fruits extract, which was far more active than root, stem bark, and leaf extracts
Summary
Human nematode infections are the most prevalent infections, affecting 1.5 billion people or 24% of the world’s population [1]. Despite this high global prevalence, medical research into parasitic diseases remains neglected. In Africa, multiple ethnic groups have used traditional medicine for centuries to treat nematode infections [2]. (Anacardiaceae) is used as a traditional medicinal plant for many indications, including intestinal worms. In spite of this information, we did not find any literature pertaining to the anthelmintic properties or chemical constituents of the fruits of O. insignis
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