In silico anthelminthic activity of a novel herbal formulation

Abstract

Helminth parasitism, is one of the major health problems severely limiting the animal productivity in dairy animals. In spite of significant production losses, which may run into millions of rupees the problem is neglected due to its chronic and insidious nature. The diverse agro climatic conditions, animal husbandry practices and pasture management largely determines the incidence and severity of various parasitic diseases in a region. Even though many of the modern drugs are effective as anthelmintics, many parasitic helminthes of veterinary importance have genetic features that favor development of anthelmintic resistance, this becoming a major worldwide constrain in livestock production. The strategy is slowly shifting towards the use of herbal anthelmintics. In the present study, an In silico study was designed to disclose the anthelminthic property of a novel herbal formulation having rhizomes of curcuma longa and cassia alata respectively. The major phytoconstituents of the formulation viz.. curcumin, demethoxy curcumin, bis demethoxy curcumin, aloe emodin and kaempferol were screened for anthelminthic acidity against fumarate reductase enzyme with flutolanil as standard drug. All the phytoconstituents depicted good inhibition against the enzyme more than the standard drug, among which curcumin emerged as potent inhibitor of the enzyme with binding energy -9.49 kcal/mol followed by aloe emodin with -9.13 kcal/mol and bis demethoxy curcumin with -9.07 respectively. In conclusion, the present herbal formulation can be used as potent herbal anthelmintics.