Abstract
Pulicaria jaubertii is a medicinal herb that alleviates inflammations and fever. Chromatographic separation, phytochemical characterization, and in vitro biological activities of the plant n-hexane extract were conducted for the first time in this study. Six compounds were isolated for the first time from the n-hexane fraction of Pulicaria jaubertii aerial parts and were identified on the bases of NMR and MS analyses as pseudo-taraxaterol (1), pseudo-taraxasterol acetate (2), 3 beta-acetoxytaraxaster-20-en-30-aldehyde (3), calenduladiol-3-O-palmitate (4), stigmasterol (5), and alpha-tocospiro B (6). Compound (6) was a rare tocopherol-related compound and was isolated for the first time from family Asteraceae, while compound (3) was isolated for the first time from genus Pulicaria. The total alcoholic extract and n-hexane fraction were tested for their anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and cytotoxic activities. The n-hexane fraction has dose dependent red blood cells (RBCs) membrane stabilization and inhibition of histamine release activities with IC50: 60.8 and 72.9 mu g/mL, respectively. As antidiabetic activity, the alcoholic extract exerted the most inhibition on the activity of yeast alpha-glucosidase, with an IC50: 76.8 mu g/mL. The n-hexane fraction showed cytotoxic activity against hepatocarcinoma (HepG-2), breast carcinoma (MCF-7), and prostate carcinoma (PC-3) cell lines with IC50: 51.8, 90.8 and 62.2 mu g/mL, respectively. In conclusion, the anti-inflammatory effect of Pulicaria jaubertii might be attributed to the triterpenoid constituents of the n-hexane extract of the plant.