The objective of this study was to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of Iris hookeriana Linn. rhizome against gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep. A worm motility inhibition assay was used for in vitro study and a faecal egg count reduction assay was used for an in vivo study. The in vitro study revealed anthelmintic effects of crude aqueous extracts and crude ethanolic extracts on live Trichuris ovis worms (P < or = 0.05) as evident from their paralysis and/or death at 8 h after exposure. The aqueous extracts of I. hookeriana resulted in a mean worm motility inhibition of 54.0%, while ethanolic extracts resulted in a mean worm motility inhibition of 84.6%. The mean mortality index of aqueous extracts was 0.55, while for ethanolic extracts it was 0.85. The lethal concentration 50 for aqueous extracts was 0.45 mg ml- 1 and for ethanolic extracts it was 0.15 mg ml- 1. The in vivo anthelmintic activity of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of I. hookeriana in sheep naturally infected with mixed species of gastrointestinal nematodes demonstrated a maximum (45.62%) egg count reduction in sheep treated with ethanolic extracts at 2 g kg- 1 body weight on day 10 after treatment, closely followed by ethanolic extracts at 1 g kg- 1 body weight on day 10 after treatment (43.54% egg count reduction). The aqueous extracts resulted in a maximum of 31.53% reduction in faecal egg counts on day 10 after treatment with 1 g kg- 1 body weight. Thus ethanolic extracts exhibited greater anthelmintic activity under both in vitro and in vivo conditions; this could be due to the presence of alcohol-soluble active ingredients in I. hookeriana. From the present study it can be suggested that I. hookeriana rhizome exhibited significant anthelmintic activity against gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep and has the potential to contribute to the control of gastrointestinal nematode parasites of small ruminants.

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Plants of the Celastraceae family comprise 60 genera and 850 species worldwide [1]. Many of them have been used in traditional medicine [2, 3]. The genus Euonymus of the family Celastraceae is reported to be a rich source of sesquiterpene alkaloids [4], sesquiterpene esters [5], sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloids [6], sesquiterpene polyol esters [7], flavonoids, and coumarins [8]. The plant species belonging to this genus has well-known medicinal activity such as cytotoxic [9], antitumor [10], immunosuppressive [11], and insecticidal [12] and insect-antifeedant activity [13], and is capable of reversing multidrug resistance in cancer cells [14]. Euonymus hamiltonianus Wall. is a small tree growing wild in Kashmir at altitudes from 3000-4000 meters. By continuing the pursuit of active principles of the Celastraceae family, particularly of the genus Euonymus, the ethyl acetate extract of the stem bark of Euonymus hamiltonianus leads to the isolation and characterization of the three new glutinane-type triterpenes 19α-glutin-5-en-19-ol (1), 2β,15α,21β-glutin-11-ene-2,15,21-triol (2), and 2β,19α-glutin-7,21-diene-2,19-diol (3). In this paper the isolation and characterization of compounds 1-3 are presented.Column chromatography of the ethyl acetate extract of the stem bark of Euonymus hamiltonianus leads to the isolation and characterization of three new pentacyclic glutinane-type triterpenes, 19α-glutin-5-en-19-ol (1), 2β,15α,21β, glutin-11-ene-2,15,21-triol (2), and 2β,19α-glutin-7,21-diene-2,19-diol (3).