Anthelmintic Potential and In Silico Studies of Ricinoleic Acid from the Seed Oil of Ricinus communis L.

Abstract

The prevalence of human intestinal helminth parasitic infections is extensive, with over half of the global population estimated to suffer from these infections. Traditionally, various plant species, including Ricinus communis L. (Euphorbiaceae), are used to treat helminth infections. In this study, ricinoleic acid was isolated from the base hydrolysate of the petroleum ether seed extract of R. communis using column chromatography and transformed into ricinoleic acid methyl ester through esterification. The extract, ricinoleic acid and its methyl ester were evaluated for their anthelmintic activities against the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. The results revealed that at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, ricinoleic acid and its methyl ester killed 97.40% and 97.83% of C. elegans worms, respectively. Molecular docking studies of ricinoleic acid on succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), glucose-6-phosphate 1-dehydrogenase (G6PD), and tubulin beta-2 chain (TBB2C) revealed that ricinoleic acid has a more favorable interaction with succinate dehydrogenase (−5.408 kcal/mol) compared to glucose-6-phosphate 1-dehydrogenase (−3.758 kcal/mol) and tubulin beta-2 chain (−1.444 kcal/mol). Furthermore, Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion (ADME) analyses unveiled that ricinoleic acid adheres to Lipinski’s rule of five, positioning it as a potential compound to treat helminths. The current study demonstrated that R. communis seed oil possesses genuine anthelmintic activity against C. elegans, which is likely due to ricinoleic acid.