Anti-inflammatory potential of aconitine produced by endophytic fungus Acremonium alternatum

• Published in: World journal of microbiology & biotechnology Vol. 40; no. 9; p. 274
• Main Authors: Bhadra, Fatima, Vasundhara, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aconitine - chemistry; Aconitine - pharmacology; Acremonium; Acremonium - chemistry; Acremonium - metabolism; Alkaloids; Alkaloids - pharmacology; Animals; Anti-inflammatory agents; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology; Applied Microbiology; Biochemistry; Biological activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biopolymer denaturation; Biotechnology; Column chromatography; Endophytes; Endophytes - chemistry; Endophytes - isolation & purification; Endophytes - metabolism; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Fractionation; Fungi; Herbal medicine; High performance liquid chromatography; India; Inflammatory diseases; Life Sciences; Lipoxygenase; Lipoxygenase - metabolism; Liquid chromatography; Medicinal plants; Mice; Microbiology; Nitric oxide; Nitric Oxide - metabolism; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Protein denaturation; RAW 264.7 Cells; Scavenging; Sustainable production; Trypsin; Wound infection; India; Lipoxygenase; Anti-inflammatory activity; Endophytic fungi; Acremonium alternatum; Argemone mexicana
• ISSN: 0959-3993; 1573-0972; 1573-0972
• DOI: 10.1007/s11274-024-04083-y

Argemone mexicana
belonging to family Papaveraceae is a traditional medicinal plant widely utilized by tribal people in India for treating various ailments like skin infections, wounds and inflammation. This plant is very rich in alkaloidal content, which has a great potential in the treatment of anti-inflammatory disorders. Therapeutically promising bioactive molecules are often produced by endophytic fungi associated with medicinal plants. In this investigation, endophytic fungi were isolated from various parts of
A. mexicana
and screened for alkaloidal content. Among these, one of the fungal isolate,
Acremonium alternatum
AMEF-5 producing maximum alkaloids showed significant anti-inflammatory activity. Fractionation of this crude fungal extract through column chromatography yielded eight fractions, which were further screened for anti-inflammatory activities. Fraction 3 exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity by the inhibition of lipoxygenase enzyme (IC
50
15.2 ± 0.09 µg/ml), scavenging of the nitric oxide radicals (IC
50
11.38 ± 0.35 µg/ml), protein denaturation (IC
50
14.93 ± 0.4 µg/ml), trypsin inhibition (IC
50
12.06 ± 0.64 µg/ml) and HRBC stabilization (IC
50
11.9 ± 0.22 µg/ml). The bioactive alkaloid in fraction 3 was identified as aconitine which was confirmed by UV, FTIR, HPLC, HRMS,
1
H NMR, and
13
C NMR analysis. This study demonstrates that endophytic fungi serve a potential source for sustainable production of therapeutically important alkaloids.