Antituberculosis activity of the constituents from the aerial parts of Lawsonia alba Lam.

ABSTRACT The antituberculosis activity of six constituents including three triterpenoids, lawsowaseem, lawsonic acid, lawsonin; a dihydrobenzofuranderivative, lawsonicin; a naphthoquinone derivative, lawsonadeem, and vomifoliol isolated from the aerial parts of Lawsonia alba Lam wasinvestigated. Compounds were identified using spectroscopic analysis. All the compounds were tested for their antitubercular activityagainst Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37 Rv and showed growth inhibition from 0 to 60 % at 6.25 µg/mL. Two acetyl derivatives werealso assayed and caused 100 and 72 % growth inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37 Rv respectively at MIC 6.25 µg/mL in theprimary screen. KEYWORDS: Lawsonia alba ; triterpenoids; dihydrobenzofuran derivative; naphthoquione derivative; antitubercular activity; Myobacteriumtuberculosis strain H37 Rv INTRODUCTION A monotypic genus, Lawsonia (family Lythreaceae) is representedby Lawsonia alba (syn. L. inermis ). It is a native of north Africa andsouth west Asia, commonly known as henna. Its leaves are used as aprophylactic against skin diseases [1, 2]. Their paste or decoction isused to cure boils, burns, bruises, wounds and skin inflammations.Its various parts showed antifungal, anti-viral, anti-parasitic, analge-sic, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activity[3, 4]. Henna herbs ex-tract was reported to possess