Relationships between the larval growth inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans by apigenin derivatives and their structures.

Due to consumer reluctance to take synthetic drugs for nematode infections and the appearance of resistance to anthelminthic drugs, new drugs from natural products must be developed. Caenorhabditis elegans is one of the freely living nematodes and serves as a good model system for screening anthelminthic drugs. In this study, thirteen flavonoid derivatives were tested for anthelminthic activity and the relationships between their activities and structures were investigated. The structural information combined with the data for the larval growth inhibition of C. elegans provided meaningful structural insights in the search for new anthelminthic drugs.