Abstract
In the search of new antileishmanial drugs from marine resources, we have investigated Actinopyga lecanora, a coral reef sea cucumber, for its in vitro and in vivo activities. Methanol extract and n-butanol fraction of A. lecanora exhibited excellent Leishmania donovani inhibition. Among the two glycosides isolated from n-butanol fraction, holothurin B (2) displayed excellent in vitro and moderate in vivo leishmanicidal activity, whereas holothurin A (1) revealed only moderate action. These findings provide an important marine lead toward the development of new antileishmanial drugs and necessitate the further exploration of rich and diverse marine resources for more potent bioactive molecules.
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Acknowledgments
We are thankful to the Director, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, for providing necessary research facilities as well as his keen interest in marine natural products. We are grateful to the Department of Ocean Development, Government of India, for providing financial assistance. The financial assistance to NS and SG from CSIR, New Delhi, is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due to Mr. N. P. Mishra and Mr. H. R. Mishra for technical assistance and SAIF for spectral data.
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Singh, N., Kumar, R., Gupta, S. et al. Antileishmanial activity in vitro and in vivo of constituents of sea cucumber Actinopyga lecanora . Parasitol Res 103, 351–354 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0979-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0979-3