Chemical Constituents, Antischistosomal and Antioxidant Activities of the Methanolic Extract of Azadirachta indica

Abstract

 THE PRESENT study was performed to evaluate the in vitro …….. schistosomicidal effect of 70% methanolic extract of the leaves of Azadirachta indica and its derived ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions against adult Schistosoma mansoni worms. Also, antioxidant properties of these extracts were determined. Owing to the high antischistosomal and antioxidant activities of EtOAc and n-BuOH fractions, they were subjected to chromatographic isolation using different chromatographic techniques. Two flavonoid compounds; (1,2) were isolated from EtOAc fraction whereas one flavonoid; (3) quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside and two bidesmosidic saponins; (4,5) were isolated from the butanolic fraction. Their structures were established using spectroscopic methods. Compounds 1-3 showed high antioxidant activity whereas compounds 4 and 5 were inactive. It is the first time that antischistosomal activity of A.indica and isolation of compounds 2- 5 from this plant were carried out.

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