Castalagin from Anogeissus leiocarpus mediates the killing of Leishmania in vitro

Abstract

Stem barks of Anogeissus leiocarpus and Terminalia avicennoides widely used in Africa for treatment of some parasitic diseases were collected and made into methanolic extracts. The extracts were tested on four strains of promastigote forms of Leishmania in vitro. Solvent fractionation in aqueous, butanolic, and ethyl acetate layer indicated butanol and aqueous fractions to have a superior leishmanicidal activity. Chromatographic separation of the butanolic fraction on Sephadex LH-20 followed by nuclear magnetic resonance and correlation high-performance liquid chromatography revealed the presence of known hydrolyzable tannins and some related compounds-with castalagin as the major compound. The observed activity ranged from 62.5 to > or =150, 112.5 to > or =500, and 55 to >150 microg/ml for the crude methanolic extract, different solvent fractions, and the isolated compounds, respectively, on the four different Leishmania strains.

Evaluation of medicinal plant extracts against blood-sucking parasites

“…Shuaibu et al (2008a) evaluated the in vitro effect of methanolic extracts of Anogeissus leiocarpus and closely related species Terminalia avicennoides, their active butanolic fractions and the isolated compounds with MIC values ranging from 25 to 50, ≤12.5 to 17.5, and 7.5 to 31.5 μg/ml (14 to 91 μM), respectively, against four strains African Trypanosoma. Good results were obtained ranged from 62.5 to ≥150 T. avicennioides (stem bark) methanol extract on promastigote forms of Leishmania in vitro (Shuaibu et al 2008b).…”

Constituents of leaf, stem bark and root volatile oils of <i>Anogeissus leiocarpus</i> DC. Guill. & Perr.

“…The plant, widely used in the treatment of parasitic diseases, has superior leishmonicidal activity (Shuaibu et al, 2008). It is effective in the traditional treatment of trypanosomiasis (Wurochekke and Anyanwu, 2012).…”

“…Castalagin was isolated from stem bark of A. leiocarpus along with other hydrolysable tannins (Shuaibu et al, 2008). The plant contains other important classes of bioactive constituents such as glycosides, phenols, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids, ellagic acids and anthraquinones, which may be responsible for its medicinal uses and activities (Barku and Abban, 2013;Adamu et al, 2013).…”

Antiplasmodial Activity of Methanolic Leaf Extract of Anogeisus leiocarpus and its Effect on Heart and Liver of Mice Infected with Plasmodium berghei

“…The use of medicinal herbs has been a common method of treating malaria among the people living in malaria endemic areas [5,6]. This practice has also been part of Nigeria culture especially in the rural areas where they do not have access to the good hospitals and most people living in these areas are peasant farmers who cannot afford to buy antimalarial drugs which are highly potent [7,8].…”