Lipoxygenase inhibition and molecular docking studies of secondary metabolites from the leaves of Alstonia scholaris

Abstract

The phytochemical study was carried out on the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Alstonia scholaris. This plant has been used traditionally for medicinal purposes in the treatment of several diseases such as cancer, jaundice, malaria, gastrointestinal troubles, dysentery, snake-bite and diarrhea. Chromatographic purification of this extract led to the isolation and characterization of nine compounds. Their structures were elucidated as betulin (1), α-amyrin acetate (2), mixture of β-sitosterol (3) and stigmasterol (4), tetratriacontyl-trans-p-coumarate (5), ursolic acid (6), picralstonine (7), β-sitosterol glucoside (8) and scholaricine (9). Scholaricine and β-sitosterol-glucoside exhibited potent lipoxygenase inhibitory activity with IC50 of 15.2 ​± ​0.41 and 18.5 ​± ​0.14 respectively compared to Baicalein (22.6 ​± ​0.08) used as positive control. Molecular docking studies were conducted to support lipoxygenase inhibitory activities of the test compounds.

Keywords

• Alstonia scholaris
• Lipoxygenase
• Cancer
• Docking study
• β-Sitosterol glucoside
• Scholaricine