Antinociceptive and antiplasmodial activities of cassane furanoditerpenes from Caesalpinia volkensii H. root bark

Abstract

The chloroform and ethyl acetate extract (100mg/kg) of Caesalpinia volkensii H. exhibited significant (P≤ 0.05) antinociceptive activities using hot plate and writhing tests in mice while the later showed antiplasmodial activity (IC50 0.23±0.07 and 4.39±2.49 μg/ml) against chloroquine sensitive (D6) and chloroquine-resistant (W2), respectively. Two new furanoditerpenes [rel. 1β, 5α-dihydroxyvoucapane (1) and rel. 1β, 6β-dihydroxyvoucapane; 19β-methyl ester (2)] together with seven known compounds [voucapane (3), voucapan-5-ol (4), deoxycaesaldekarin C (5), caesaldekarin C (6), 5-hydroxyvinhaticoic acid (7), triacontanyl-(E)-ferulate (8), triacontanyl-(E)-caffaete (9) and 30′-hydroxytriacontanyl-(E)- ferulate (10)] were isolated from the two extracts. The administration of 3, 4, 5 and 6 (100mg/kg ip) caused a significant (P≤ 0.05) reduction in the number of writhing …