Thymus capitatus from Tunisian arid zone: chemical composition and in vitro anthelmintic effects on Haemonchus contortus.

The increasing prevalence of anthelmintic resistant strains of helminths, the drug residues in animal products and the high cost of conventional anthelmintics has created an interest in studying medicinal plants as an alternative source of anthelmintics. Thymus capitatus (Lamiales: Lamiaceae) is used traditionally by people as spices and reported to possess some biological effects. The objective of this study is to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of T. capitatus in comparison to albendazole against the gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep. To fulfil the objectives, in vitro anthelmintic activities of crude aqueous and crude ethanolic extracts of aerial parts of T. capitatus were investigated on the eggs and adults of the nematode parasite Haemonchus contortus. Both extract types of T. capitatus completely inhibited egg hatching at a concentration close to 2 mg/ml. LC₅₀ of ethanolic extract of T. capitatus was 0.368 mg/ml while that of aqueous extract was 6.344 mg/ml (p<0.05). The ethanolic extract showed higher in vitro activity against adult parasites than the aqueous one in terms of the paralysis and/or death of the worms at different hours post-treatment. Dose dependent effect was observed for both extracts. Chemical analyses revealed that the overall profile of both extracts was dominated by oxygenated constituents. In addition, ethanolic extract is mainly composed of phenols among which thymol (71.22%) and camphor (17.18%). As far as the literature could be ascertained, this is the first publication on anthelmintic activity of T. capitatus. The results of the present study suggest that T. capitatus extracts are a promising alternative to the commercially available anthelmintics like albendazole for the treatment of small ruminants' gastrointestinal nematodes.