Antidiarrhoeal activity of carbazole alkaloids from Murraya koenigii Spreng (Rutaceae) seeds
Graphical abstract
The compounds isolated from Murraya koenigii exhibited significant inhibitory activity against castor oil-induced diarrhoea and PGE2-induced enterpooling in rats, these compounds also give the gastrointestinal motility test in Wister rats.
Introduction
The plant Murraya koenigii (L) Spreng (Sanskrit name: Surabhinimba) belonging to the family Rutaceae is native to India but is now distributed in most of southern Asia. The leaves of this plant are well-known as curry leaves and have been used as one of the important herbs in South Indian food [1]. Various parts of the plant have been used in traditional or folk medicine as an antidysentric as well as an astringent [2].
Since the first report of the carbazole alkaloid, murrayanine, from the stem bark of M. koenigii [3], a number of carbazole alkaloids have been isolated from this species, possessing C13, C18 and C23 skeletons [4], [5], [6], [7]. Our bioassay directed investigations of the seeds of M. koenigii has led to the isolation of three carbazole alkaloids, Kurryam (I) [8] Koenimbine (II) and Koenine (III) [9] (Fig. 1). The activity of compounds (I) and (II) were studied on castor oil-induced diarrhoea in rat model and then compared with the standard antidiarrhoeal medicine, diphenoxylate. This is the first report of the biological activity of these carbazole alkaloids.
Section snippets
Plant material
Seeds of Murraya koenigii Spreng (Rutaceae) were collected from the Ministry of Food and Supplies, Government of India, and compared with a voucher specimen maintained in the herbarium of Calcutta University. The seeds were crushed in a mechanical grinder.
Identification of components from n-hexane fraction
The air dried seeds of M. koenigii were extracted with n-hexane in a Soxhlet apparatus for 72 h at room temperature. The total extract was concentrated and kept at room temperature. A yellowish solid (yield: 4.2%) separated out. This was
Test animals
Wister rats weighing between 150 and 200 g of either sex were used. The rats were housed in standard environmental conditions and provided with food and water ad libitum.
Castor oil-induced diarrhoea in rats
Rats of either sex were fasted for 18 h and randomly assigned to five groups with six animals in each group. The doses of koenimbine (II), selected on trial basis, were administered orally (10, 30 and 50 mg/kg suspended in 2% v/v aq. tween 80) to three groups of animals. The fourth group received 5 mg/kg of diphenoxylate orally
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the University Grant Commission, New Delhi, India (Fellowship to AN) for financial assistance. The administrative support of Dr. J. Hazra, Director (Inst.), NRIADD, Bidhannagar, Kolkata is thankfully acknowledged by S.M., S.K.B. and A.D. Thanks are also extended to Dr. R. Banerjee, Department of Pharmacology, NRIADD, Kolkata for her technical help.
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2022, South African Journal of BotanyCitation Excerpt :The leaves have antiemetic and purgative action and in a confirmatory finding Mohan et al., (2020) reported the gastro-protective activity of girinimbine by protecting the inflammation and mucosal damages when ingested @ 10 mg/kg of body weight in the male adult rat (Bhandari, 2012). The anti-diarrhoeal drug use of the curry leaves is well established and a dose of 30 mg/kg koenimbine (bioactive compound from curry leaves) had an equivalent effect to that of 5 mg/kg of the standard drug, diphenoxylate used in diarrhoea, and the dose of 50 mg/kg, exhibited better effect than that of 5 mg/kg of diphenoxylate (Mandal et al., 2010). Curry leaves have been traditionally used for the treatment of different external injuries such as bruises and eruptions and health complications like inflammation, reduce body heat and itching due to its cooling action.
Anti-colon cancer activity of Murraya koenigii leaves is due to constituent murrayazoline and O-methylmurrayamine A induced mTOR/AKT downregulation and mitochondrial apoptosis
2017, Biomedicine and PharmacotherapyCitation Excerpt :Traditionally, curry leaves (M. koenigii) are well reported for its beneficial gastrointestinal activities. In addition, it has been reported to have several other pharmacological and biological activities such as hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrheal, hypolipidemic, anti-trichomonal, anti-oxidative, and immunomodulatory activity [42–46]. Here, we have isolated pure pyranocarbazole alkaloids (1–5) from leaves of M. koenigii and tested for their anti-cancer activity systematically against eight different cancer cell lines.