Chemical constituents and antifilarial activity of Lantana camara against human lymphatic filariid Brugia malayi and rodent filariid Acanthocheilonema viteae maintained in rodent hosts.

Lymphatic filariasis continues to be a major health problem in tropical and subtropical countries. A macrofilaricidal agent capable of eliminating adult filarial parasites is urgently needed. In the present study, we report the antifilarial activity in the extract of stem portion of the plant Lantana camara. The crude extract at 1 g/kg for 5 days by oral route killed 43.05% of the adult Brugia malayi parasites and sterilized 76% of surviving female worms in the rodent model Mastomys coucha. A 34.5% adulticidal activity along with sterilization of 66% of female worms could be demonstrated in the chloroform fraction. Remarkable antifilarial activity was observed in the adult B. malayi transplanted gerbil model where up to 80% of the adult worms could be killed at the same dose and all the surviving female parasites were found sterilized. The extract was also found effective against a subcutaneous rodent filariid Acanthocheilonema viteae maintained in Mastomys coucha, where it exerted strong microfilaricidal (95.04%) and sterilization (60.66%) efficacy with mild macrofilaricidal action. Two compounds, oleanonic acid and oleanolic acid, isolated from hexane and chloroform fractions showed LC100 at 31.25 and 62.5 mug/ml, respectively, on B. malayi in vitro. This is the first ever report on the antifilarial efficacy of Lantana camara.