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ABSTRACT:Capparis spinosa is cultivated for several proprieties and the different parts of the plant (flower buds, fruits, leaf and seeds) have been employed in drugs, foods and cosmetics. This study aimed to explore the antioxidant potential effect and to assess the anthelmintic efficacy of an aqueous extract of Capparis spinosa. In vitro antioxidant activity of aqueous extracts from the fresh leaves and flower buds of C. spinosa was measured by determining free radical-scavenging activity against DPPH and ABTS radical cations. In vitro anthelmintic activities against eggs and adult worms of Haemonchus contortus from sheep were investigated in comparison to albendazole. DPPH and ABTS activities of both aqueous extracts increased in a dose dependent manner. The IC 50 values of aqueous extracts from fresh leaves, flowers buds and ascorbic acid in the DPPH radical scavenging assay were 101.40; 70.40 and 57.56 μg/ml, respectively. The IC 50 values of aqueous extracts fresh leaves, flowers buds and ascorbic acid in the ABTS radical scavenging assay were 110; 87.89 and 58.17 μg/ml, respectively. Both plant extracts showed ovicidal activity at all tested concentrations. The aqueous extract from flower buds (IC 50 = 2.76 mg/ml) showed higher inhibitory effects (P < 0.05) than aqueous extract from leaves (IC 50 = 8.54 mg/ml) in the egg hatching assay. The aqueous extract from flower buds inhibited more worms than the aqueous extract from leaves at all tested concentrations. After 6 h of exposure, the highest tested concentrations of aqueous extracts from flower buds and leaves induced 100 and 41.66% inhibition of motility, respectively. These results show for the first time that C. spinosa possesses in vitro anthelmintic properties which may be related to its high content of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and tannins. Keywords: Capparis spinosa; free radical-scavenging ability; anthelmintic; Haemonchus contortusList of abbreviations ABTS = 2,2'-azinobis-[3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid]; DMSO = dimethyl sulfoxide; DPPH = 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl; HPLC/MS = chromatography/mass spectrometry; PBS = phosphate-buffered saline Parasite infestations of livestock species are especially prevalent in developing countries due to poor management practices and inadequate control measures (Dhar et al. 1982). The main control measures for parasitic diseases largely rely on the repeated use of anthelmintics. However, resistance to various groups of anthelmintics is constantly increasing in worm populations, especially those found in small ruminants (Waller 1997;Van Wyk et al. 1999). In addition, the increasing pressure from consumers to limit the use of chemical substances in livestock industry merits consideration. These two issues underpin the current search for alternatives or rather complementary solutions to chemotherapy to control gastrointestinal parasitism in sheep and goats. There is an increasing body of evidence that stockowners rely on ethno-veterinary medicine as an alternative and as a sustain-

This work aimed to evaluate the valorisation of the volatile oil of “Rosmarinus officinalis L.”, a spontaneously growing medicinal plant in Tunisia, by studying its chemical composition, anthelmintic and anticoccidial potentials against Eimeria spp. and Haemonchus contortus at different essential oil concentrations. The main compounds of the R. officinalis essential oil identified by GC/MS were three monoterpenes: 1,8-cineole (52.06%), α-pinene (15.35%) and camphor (7.69%). The anticoccidial activity was estimated by the inhibition percentage of the oocyte sporulation in addition to the unsporulated and degenerated Eimeria oocysts using a haemocytometer after exposure to different essential oil concentrations. The essential oil was active against Eimeria spp. oocysts of sheep at IC₅₀ = 1.82 ug/ml. Therefore, the IC₅₀ values of the anticoccidial activity of this oil examined was 1.82 mg/ml. The anthelmintic efficacy of the rosemary volatile oil against Haemonchus contortus was realised by two in vitro tests: the egg hatch assay (EHA) and the adult worm’s motility assay (AWMA), by comparing this efficacy with albendazole (anthelmintic, of reference). In the egg hatch assay, the percentage of inhibition was observed at 16 mg/ml and was 73.76% after 2 days of incubation (IC₅₀ = 11.41 mg/ml) and for the adult worm’s motility assay, it was 100% inhibition.

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Because of the development of resistance in helminths against major anthelmintic drugs, the search for alternatives is necessary. Medicinal plants are being studied as an alternative source of anthelmintics against gastrointestinal nematodes. The objective of this study is to analyse the chemical composition and evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of Origanum majorana essential oil. The determination of the chemical composition by gas chromatography/mass chromatography (GC/MS) revealed that the essential oil was dominated by terpenoids, particularly carvacrol (35.65%) and terpenic hydrocarbons p-cymene (15.82%). The in vitro anthelmintic effects against Haemonchus contortus were assessed by an egg hatch assay (EHA) and an adult worm motility assay (AWMA) compared with the reference drug albendazole. The essential oil showed ovicidal activity at all the tested concentrations (1, 2, 4 and 8 mg/ml) and more than 80% egg hatching inhibition was observed at the highest dose (8 mg/ml). Exposure to 0.5 mg/ml of the essential oil for eight hours induced a 50% inhibition in the worm motility. The in vivo study was performed on H. polygyrus by measuring the egg count reduction (ECR) and adult worm count reduction (AWCR) following the treatment of the animals with different doses (2 000, 4 000 and 5 000 mg/kg) of the plant essential oil, and 22 mg/kg of albendazole as the positive control. The results showed that 5 000 mg/kg of the essential oil inhibited the egg count and adult worm count by 76.3 and 74.0%, respectively, seven days post treatment. These findings support the possible use of O. majorana essential oil to control gastrointestinal nematodes.

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