A fig tree's leaves outperform a standard anti-parasite drug
Medicinal Plants
The Ficus microcarpa (Chinese banyan or curtain fig) grown as a street tree or houseplant in many warm climates just showed real pharmacological muscle, turning a familiar ornamental into a candidate medicine chest.
Trichinellosis is a nasty infection people get from eating undercooked meat with worm larvae in it, and the usual drug for it doesn't work great and has side effects. Researchers tested leaf extracts from seven kinds of fig trees against these worms in lab dishes, and one species, Ficus microcarpa, wiped out the worms at a much lower dose than the standard drug. Under a microscope, the worms' outer skin looked visibly damaged and disrupted after treatment, and computer modeling suggested the plant's chemicals lock onto a protein the worm needs to survive.
Key Findings
Ficus microcarpa methanolic leaf extract had an LC50 of 12.8 µg/mL versus 52.5 µg/mL for albendazole, over 4x more potent
Electron microscopy showed damaged, disrupted outer body structure in treated worms
GC-MS identified 26 compounds in the active extract, with molecular docking showing strong binding to the worm's tubulin protein
chevron_right Technical Summary
Leaf extracts from a common ornamental fig tree killed the parasitic worm that causes trichinellosis more effectively than the standard drug albendazole in lab tests, pointing to a possible natural treatment source.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Chemical investigation and anti-trichinellosis activity of some ficus species leaves: in silico supported in vitro study
Abstract Background Worldwide, trichinellosis is a zoonotic illness. Albendazole (ALB), the nowadays anti-trichinellosis drug, has side effects and insufficient effectiveness. Ficus species have ub...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Hill's weeping fig, small-fruited fig, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, or curtain fig, is a species of banyan tree in the family Moraceae. Its native range is from India to China and Japan, through Southeast Asia and the western Pacific to the state ...