Background: Zanthoxylum armatum DC (Family Rutaceae) is traditionally used as carminative, as well as for treatment of gout, pain, and inflammation. Because gout and hyperuricemia are caused by accumulation of uric acid, xanthine oxidase inhibitors may play a role in those dysfunctions.
Objective: Investigation of xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity (in vitro) of Z. armatum fruits extracts and fractionation of bioactive extracts for separation and isolation of bioactive compounds by HPLC.
Materials and methods: Powdered fruits of Z. armatum were extracted and evaluated for xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity. An efficient method based on bioactivity guided fractionation using preparative-HPLC was used to separate and evaluate the bioactive compounds from ethyl acetate extract. Solvent system methanol: water (65:35, v/v) was used for the isocratic method of p-HPLC and seven fractions of 5 mL each were collected. Then the active fractions were evaluated for XOI activity and compounds were isolated by peak-resolved manner.
Results: The ethyl acetate extract shows the most significant effect on XO activity (IC50 115.69µM) and XO inhibitory activity of isolated marker chemical was ranging from 5.62 to 41.21 µM.
Conclusion: It is concluded that Z. armatum possesses a significant inhibitory effect against the xanthine oxidase enzyme. Therefor fruits of Z. armatum may lead potential treatment of hyperuricemia.
