Implications of Asparagus racemosus and Terminalia chebula extracts on oxazolone induced inflammatory bowel disease in Danio rerio (zebrafish)

Abstract

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) occurs in the human intestine without any definitive etiology for which there is no cure yet. The present study analyses the anti-inflammatory and anti Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) potentials of the methanol extract of Indian herbal plants Asparagus racemosus (AR) and Terminalia chebula (TC). First, we prepared methanolic extracts of AR root and TC fruit using the Soxhlet procedure and analyzed their phytochemical composition by GC-MS. Second, the extracts were used against Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus cultures and observed for growth and biofilm inhibition. Third, the anti-oxidant assays were performed for the same extracts. Finally, we studied pathological and hematological analysis to study a reduction in the number of inflammatory cells following oxazolone-induced IBD in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). Both extracts contain steroids, terpenoids, tannins, phenols, and carbohydrates as active ingredients with moderate antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 12.5 μg/ml (TC) and 25 μg/ml (AR) against both bacteria. AR extract showed high biofilm inhibition on E. coli (80.8 ± 0.81%) and B. cereus (92.8 ± 1.08%) at 800 μg/mL and showed high DPPH radical scavenging activity IC50 value of 139.9 μg/mL. Further in IBD zebrafish, AR (14 mg/L) and TC (60 mg/L) exhibited a significant reduction in inflammatory cells in blood and improved pathological scores in the gut compared with positive drug Prednisolone (50 mg/L). Moreover, T. chebula showed a greater reduction in the number of inflammatory cells recruited in the intestine of IBD-induced fish compared to A. racemosus at the time point and dose examined.