Biological activities of cycloart-23-ene-3,25-diol isolated from the leaves of Trichilia dregeana

Investigation of the ethyl acetate leaf extract of Trichilia dregeana for anti-inflammatory activity using bioassay-guided fractionation led to the isolation of cycloart-23-ene-3,25-diol. The compound was tested for anti-inflammatory activity using the cyclooxygenase assays (COX-1 and COX-2), anti-cholinesterase activity using the microplate assay and investigated for potential mutagenic effects using the Ames test. In the cyclooxygenase assays, cycloart-23-ene-3,25-diol showed inhibitory activity against COX-2 (80%) at a concentration of 100 μM (IC50 was 40 μM). At the same concentration, the compound showed weak activity against COX-1 (56%) with an IC50 value of 97 μM. In the anti-cholinesterase test, the compound had a weak inhibitory effect against acetylcholinesterase (53%) when tested at a concentration of 0.4 mM. No potential mutagenic effects were observed in the Salmonella microsome assay (TA 98). Isolation of the bioactive compound and the activity observed in this study may explain in part the use of the tree in traditional medicine as a crude anti-inflammatory drug.