title: Anti-inflammatory compounds from leaves and root bark of Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Müll. Arg.
abstract: Alchornea cordifolia is one of the most widely-used plants in traditional medicine throughout Africa, principally for inflammatory, antimicrobial and parasitic diseases. In continuation of our investigations on its anti-inflammatory activity, we fractionated the leaf and root bark extracts and isolated six compounds which exhibited significant topical anti-inflammatory activity in the mouse ear oedema model using croton oil at a dose of 90 microg/cm2. Daucosterol (2), acetyl aleuritolic acid (4), N1,N2-diisopentenyl guanidine (5) and N1,N2,N3-triisopentenyl guanidine (6) were shown to be more active than indomethacin, while beta-sitosterol (1) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (3) were less effective. This is the first report on the presence of compounds 1, 2, 3 and 4 in this plant and of the anti-inflammatory activity of 3, 5 and 6. These compounds may account, at least in part, for the use of A. cordifolia in folk medicine to treat inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie, Unité CHAM 72.30, Ecole de Pharmacie, Université catholique de Louvain, Av. E. Mounier, 72, 1200 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mavar-Manga
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haddad
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pieters
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baccelli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Penge
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quetin-Leclercq
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004423:Ear; D004487:Edema / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy; D019665:Euphorbiaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional; D051379:Mice; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018515:Plant Leaves; D018517:Plant Roots
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts