Phytochemical investigation of Corydalis govaniana Wall. and Corydalis casimiriana Duthie & Prain ex Prain with special reference to bioactive compounds

Abstract

Human being has been using plants to treat abnormal physiological condition of the body. The “Ayurveda,” written around 2500 BC, mentioned 290 herbal drugs and describes the therapeutic uses of medicinal plants. It is estimated that there are 250,000 to 500,000 species of plants on the Earth and over 35,000 species of plants are reported to be medicinal. Nepal is rich in biodiversity and hundreds of species are known to have medicinal value. The genus Corydalis comprises 470 species, which is native in China, Nepal, India and Pakistan and also found in mountainous regions of Eastern Africa. Corydalis govaniana Wall. and Corydalis casimiriana Duthie and Prain ex Prain, have been used in the treatment of syphilis, scrofula, cutaneous infections, along with diarrhea and dysentery. Also, it had showed an inhibitory effect against hepatitis virus, amoeba, tumors, liver cancer, as well as acesodyne and sedative, improved immunological function, hepatocirrhosis, ascites, etc. as well as a new category of dopamine receptor ligands and anti-malarial agents. In the present work, phytochemical investigation of two medicinal plants Corydalis govaniana Wall. and Corydalis casimiriana Duthie and Prain ex Prain, which resulted one new tetrahydro-protoberberine type alkaloid govaniadine (1), and nine tetrahydroprotoberberine type alkaloids (2-10) along with four non-alkaloidal compounds (11- 14). Bioactivities of known alkaloids have been reported for first time and several novel bioactivities have been discovered. Compound 1 showed urease (IC50 = 20.2 M), β-glucuronidase (IC50 = 41.9 M) inhibition, antioxidant activity (IC50 = 83.7 M). Similarly, compound 2 showed significant inhibitory effect against β-glucuronidase (IC50 = 71.6 M) enzyme and antileishmanial activity (IC50 = 41.6 M), and compound 8 showed antileishmanial activity (IC50 = 81.9 M). Therefore, these compounds can be considered for further research for drug development for the treatment of peptic ulcer, to treat cancer,leishmania, etc.