Research & Reviews: Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis
Menue-ISSN: 2320-0812
e-ISSN: 2320-0812
Farah Djazia Drissi, F Lahfa and N Fabre
Tlemcen University, Algeria Universite de Toulouse, France
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Pharmaceutical Analysis
Background: Citrullus colocynthis Schrad, also known as colocynth, is a very
common fruit in traditional medicine; it is recognized by different pharmacologic
activities in traditional Algerian medicine (i.e., purgative, anti-inflammatory,
antidiabetic, analgesic, and antiepileptic. Some of these activities were confirmed
in modern phytotherapy (Shaheen, et al., 2014). Several scientific studies carried
out on crude extracts of pulp and seed of colocynth have demonstrated the
antimitotic effect (Sari-Hassoun, et al., 2016), antidiabetic (Ebrahimi, et al.,
2016), antiparasitic (Cheraghi Niroumand, et al., 2016), larvicidal (Hamid, et al.,
2016) as well as a preventive effect against obesity (Alhawiti, 2018). However,
the bioactive chemicals compounds responsible of those activities are not
isolated and identified yet. Starting from two fractions of ethyl acetate from pulp
and seed obtained at the Lapsaab laboratory in Tlemcen (Algeria), our objective
at the PharmaDev laboratory was first to better know the chemical composition
in cucurbitacins of these two extracts and secondly to compare the chemical
profiles of the seed and the pulp. We were then able to isolate and identify five
molecules likely to be responsible for one of the activities mentioned previously.
Materials & Methods: The dereplication part was carried out using a UHPLCHRMS
chain and the raw formulas were obtained via the softwre Xcalibur 3.0.
The isolation of the molecules was done by different chromatographic methods:
SPE, CC, MPLC and HPLC. Isolated molecules were identified by MS and 300
MHz NMR.
Results: The LC-MS and TLC results showed that the chemical profiles of the
seed and pulp ethyl acetate extracts are similar, that would explain why both are
active on the same targets. We have also demonstrated the heterogeneity of the
cucurbitacins, around 20 cucurbitacins have been identified in each fraction and
some of them have never been described in C. colocynthis. The major compound
isolated from the two extracts is elaterinid. Other cucurbitacins and a benzoic
acid derivative have been isolated and identified: cucurbitacin E, cucurbitacin I,
glycosylated cucurbitacin I and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde.
Conclusion: Our data first demonstrate the similarity in the cucurbitacin
composition of the seed and the pulp. These results suggest that the various
biological activities of the colocynth could be due to the action of one or many
cucurbitacins.
Farah Djazia Drissi is pursuing her PhD in Abou Bekr Belkaîd University, Tlemcen, Algeria. In 2016, she has received a Master’s degree in Biochemistry; the main research of the Master Thesis was the Study of the Dedifferentiation of the Beta Cells in Alpha Cells in Diabetes Type 2. For her Doctoral Research, she takes a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the fields of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, as well as the Pharmacognosy. Her research focuses on the phytochemical study and the research of biological activity of the fruit Citrullus colocynthis.
E-mail: drissi.djazia@gmail.com