Lipoxygenase inhibitory activity of crude bark extracts and isolated compounds from Commiphora berryi.

Commiphora berryi is traditionally used for the treatment of cold and fever as well as for wound healing in the southern parts of India. The present study was designed to investigate in vitro soybean lipoxygenase inhibitory activity of crude extracts and compounds isolated from Commiphora berryi. The bark of Commiphora berryi was extracted with different organic solvents and subjected to chromatographic separation for isolation of bioactive compounds. Structures of isolated compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods. The anti-inflammatory activity of bark extracts and bioactive compounds were assessed by in vitro soybean lipoxygenase (SBL) assay. 3β-Hydroxyglutin-5-ene (1), friedelin (2), cycloeucaneol (3) nimbiol (4), sugiol (5), surianol (6), daucosterol (7) and ursolic acid (8) were isolated from crude bark extracts of the Commiphora berryi. The structure of nimbiol (4) was also confirmed by single crystal X-ray analysis. The petroleum ether, methanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of bark of Commiphora berryi showed SBL inhibitory activity with the IC(50) values of 15.3, 54.2, 71.5 and 87.8 μg/ml respectively. Among all the isolates, friedelin (2) showed significant SBL inhibitory activity with IC(50) 35.8 μM. The overall results provide evidence that the studied plant might be a potential source of anti-inflammatory agents.