Isolation and Biological Activities of Termilignan B and Arjunic Acid from Terminalia sericea Roots

Abstract

Bioassay-guided fractionation of ethyl acetate root extracts of Terminalia sericea yielded a new compound, termilignan B, and the known arjunic acid. Both compounds showed activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with MIC values ranging between 1.9 and 15.6 μg/mL. The lowest MIC value (1.9 μg/mL) was observed with termilignan B against Bacillus subtilis. Neither of the compounds showed significant activity against Mycobacterium aurum A+. In the cyclooxygenase assays, the compounds showed weak inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ values of 78 μM (COX-1) and 156 μM (COX-2) (termilignan B) and 36 μM (COX-1) and 253 μM (COX-2) (arjunic acid). No potential mutagenic effects were observed with the two compounds in the Salmonella microsome assay (TA 98).

Abbreviations

COX: cyclooxygenase

Key words

Terminalia sericea - Combretaceae - termilignan B - arjunic acid - antimicrobial - anti-inflammatory

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