Anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties of pyrroloquinazoline alkaloids from Adhatoda vasica Nees

Adhatoda vasica Nees, Acanthaceae, is well known plant in Ayurveda and Unani medicine. The purpose of this study was to characterize the most bioactive phytochemicals viz., vasicine, vasicinone, vasicine acetate, 2-acetyl benzyl amine, vasicinolone present in the chloroform fraction having anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. The anti-inflammatory activity was tested by using carrageenan and CFA-model induced paw oedema. The antimicrobial activity of isolated compounds was assessed by using the microdilution method. The observed results revealed that vasicine showed most potent anti-inflammatory effects (59.51%) at the dose of 20.0 mg/kg at 6 h after carrageenan injection and maximum inhibition rate was observed of vasicinone (63.94%) at the dose of 10.0 mg/kg at 4 days after CFA injection. The strong antibacterial activity was exhibited by vasicine at 20 mu g/ml dose against E. coli and also demonstrated maximum antifungal activity against C. albicans at the dose of >55 mu g/ml. All the five alkaloids demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. (C) 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.