ARS | Publication request: Antiparasitic, Nematicidal and Antifouling Constituents from Juniperus Berries

Submitted to: Phytotherapy Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: November 7, 2007
Publication Date: December 18, 2008
Citation: Samoylenko, V., Dunbar, D., Gafur, M., Khan, S.I., Ross, S.A., Mossa, J.S., El-Feraly, F.S., Tekwani, B.L., Bossalaers, J., Muhammad, I. 2008. Antiparasitic, Nematicidal and Antifouling Constituents from Juniperus Berries. Phytotherapy Research. 22:1570-1576.

Interpretive Summary: Juniperus procera berries yielded antiparasitic, nematicidal and antifouling constituents, including a wide range of known abietane, pimarane and labdane diterpenes, as well as abieta-7,13-diene (1) which demonstrated in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum D6 and W2 strains.

Technical Abstract: A bioassay-guided fractionation of Juniperus procera berries yielded antiparasitic, nematicidal and antifouling constituents, including a wide range of known abietane, pimarane and labdane diterpenes. Among these, abieta-7,13-diene (1) demonstrated in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum D6 and W2 strains (IC50 = 1.9 and 2.0 ug/mL, respectively), while totarol (6), ferruginol (7) and 7B-hydroxyabieta-8,13-diene-11,12-dione (8) inhibited Leishmania donovani promastigotes with IC50 values of 3.5-4.6 ug/mL. In addition, totarol demonstrated nematicidal and antifouling activities against Caenorhabditis elegans and Artemia salina at a concentration of 80 ug/mL and 1 ug/mL, respectively. The resinous exudate of J. virginiana afforded known antibacterial E-communic acid (4) and 4-epi-abietic acid (5), while the volatile oil from its trunk wood revealed large quantities of cedrol (9). Using GC/MS, the two known abietanes totarol (6) and ferruginol (7) were identified from the berries of J. procera, J. excelsa and J. phoenicea.