Anthelmintic Effect of Leucaena leucocephala Extract and Its Active Compound, Mimosine, on Vital Behavioral Activities in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Helminth infections continue to be a neglected global threat in tropical regions, and there have been growing cases of anthelmintic resistance reported towards the existing anthelmintic drugs. Thus, the search for a novel anthelmintic agent has been increasing, especially those derived from plants. Leucaena leucocephala (LL) is a leguminous plant that is known to have several pharmacological activities, including anthelmintic activity. It is widely known to contain a toxic compound called mimosine, which we believed could be a potential lead candidate that could exert a potent anthelmintic effect. Hence, this study aimed to validate the presence of mimosine in LL extract and to investigate the anthelmintic effect of LL extract and mimosine on head thrashing, egg-laying, and pharyngeal pumping activities using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Mimosine content in LL extract was confirmed through an HPLC analysis of spiking LL extract with different mimosine concentrations, whereby an increasing trend in peak heights was observed at a retention time of 0.9 min. LL extract and mimosine caused a significant dose-dependent increase in the percentage of worm mortality, which produced LC50s of 73 mg/mL and 6.39 mg/mL, respectively. Exposure of C. elegans to different concentrations of LL extract and mimosine significantly decreased the head thrashing, egg-laying, and mean pump amplitude of pharyngeal pumping activity. We speculated that these behavioral changes are due to the inhibitory effect of LL extract and mimosine on an L-type calcium channel called EGL-19. Our findings provide evidential support for the potential of LL extract and its active compound, mimosine, as novel anthelmintic candidates. However, the underlying mechanism of the anthelmintic action has yet to be elucidated.

The endophytic fungal community plays a crucial role in the resistance of host plants to necrotic bacterial pathogens

“…For example, syringaresinol is a lignan with anti‐inflammatory activity (Bajpai et al, 2018). Mimosine is a tyrosine analog with a variety of biological properties, including anti‐inflammatory, antidisease, and anticancer properties (Widaad et al, 2022). Cadabicine mainly exists in capers ( Capparis spinosa ) and Cadaba farinosa Forssk, and related medical studies have shown that cadabicine can alleviate pain by inhibiting the activity of enkephalinase (Annaz et al, 2022).…”

“…For example, syringaresinol is a lignan with anti-inflammatory activity (Bajpai et al, 2018). Mimosine is a tyrosine analog with a variety of biological properties, including antiinflammatory, antidisease, and anticancer properties (Widaad et al, 2022). Cadabicine mainly exists in capers (Capparis spinosa) and…”

Therapeutic Effect and Immune Changes after Treatment of Hymenolepis nana-Infected BALB/c Mice with Compounds Isolated from Leucaena leucocephala

“…Linoleic acid (1) Seeds, mature pods, immature pods Pheophytin-a (2) Leaves Pheophorbide a methyl ester (3) Leaves, immature pods 13 2 -hydroxy-(13 2 -S)-pheophytin a (4) Leaves Aristophyll-C (5) Leaves Methyl-13 2 -hydroxy-(13 2 -S)-pheophorbide b (6) Leaves 5α, 8α-epidioxy-(24ξ)-ergosta-6, 22-dien-3β-ol (7) Mature pods β-sitosterol (8) Seeds Lupeol (9) Mature pods β-sitostenone (10) Mature pods Ficaprenol-11 (11) Immature pods Squalene (12) Immature pods Cis-coumaric acid (13) Immature pods Trans-coumaric acid (14) Immature pods Pyropheophorbide a (15) Immature pods 1, 3-Dipalmitoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (16) Mature pods, immature pods…”

“…The leaves and fruits of L. leucocephala contain phytoalkaloids, and the leaves of L. leucocephala contain toxic mimosine (Mimosine, b-[N-(3-hydroxy-4-pyridone)]-a-aminopropionicacid) and poison phenol compounds, such as acids and flavonoids [ 14 , 15 ].…”