BackgroundEmbelia schimperi has been used for the treatment of intestinal parasites especially tapeworm infestations for centuries in Ethiopia. However, there is lack of scientific based evidences regarding the efficacy, safety and phytochemical analysis of this plant despite its frequent use as an anthelmintic. This study has therefore evaluated the efficacy and acute toxicity of E. schimperi thereby generating relevant preclinical information.MethodsThe anthelmintic activities of the crude hydroalcoholic extract of E. schimperi and the isolated compound, embelin, were conducted using in vivo and in vitro models against the dwarf tapeworm, Hymenolepis nana, and the hookworm, Necator americanus, respectively. LD50 of the crude hydroalcoholic extract was determined using Swiss albino mice following the OECD guidelines. Chemical characterization of the isolated embelin was conducted using UV-spectroscopy, HPLC and NMR.ResultsIn the acute toxicity study no prominent signs of toxicity and mortality were recorded among the experimental animals at the highest administered dose. Hence the LD50 of the plant was found to be higher than 5000 mg/kg. In vivo cestocidal activity of the crude hydroalcoholic extract of E. schimperi showed 100 % parasite clearance at 1000 mg/kg, while the diammonium salt of embelin showed 85.3 % parasite clearance at 750 mg/kg. The in vitro anthelminthic activity study revealed that the LC50 value of the crude extract and albendazole were 228.7 and 51.33 μg/mL, respectively.ConclusionThe results clearly indicated that the hydroalcoholic extract of E. schimperi and the diammonium salt of the isolated compound embelin had anthelmintic activity against hookworm larva in vitro and H. nana in vivo. Hence the findings of this study showed Embelia schimperi appears to possess some anthelmintic activity that may support the usage of these plants by local traditional healers to treat helminthic infestations.

Embelin is a unique chemical compound found in nature, composed of quinone moiety resembling Coq10 (Ubiquinones), having ketone and hydroxy groups with an aliphatic chain. An Optimum solvent for extracting Embelin from Embelia schimperi and its simultaneous determination of the content of Embelin in the extract has been performed using UV-VIS spectrometry. The identification of Embelin spot obtained from hot ethyl acetate extract of the seed is confirmed by Nuclear Magnetic Spectroscopy (NMR). A plot of peak absorbance versus concentration of Embelin was found to be linear over the range of 3-12 μg/ml. The limit of detection was 0.11μg/ml and the limit of quantitation was 0.37 μg/ml. Extraction conditions were also optimized for the best possible extraction of Embelin from the fruits of Embelia schimperi in different solvent polarity like n-hexane, carbon tetrachloride, diethyl ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, propanol and ethanol. The determination of Embelin in various solvent extract exhibited a mean content of 0.66-5.79 % w/w. Carbon tetrachloride and ethyl acetate was found to be best for the highest possible recovery of the analyte, Embelin. The developed UV method was validated in terms of precision, accuracy, stability, LOD and LOQ