Evaluation of the thrombolytic activity of the methanolic extract of Melia azedarach fruits and leaves in vitro

Abstract

Melia azedarach is a plant of the Meliaceae family, used around the world in various medical fields. Because of the widespread incidence of thrombosis worldwide especially during the coronavirus epidemic, this study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro thrombolytic effect of methanolic extracts of Melia azedarach leaves and fruits. Series of dilutions starting from 2mg/ml to 20mg/ml were prepared from the methanolic extracts. The results showed that thrombolysis rates were between (18.7%-29.3%) for fruit extract in distilled water, ( 18.3%-30.1%) in phosphate buffer, (19.3%-35%) for leaves extract in distilled water and (20%-32.3%) in phosphate buffer for dilutions from 2 mg/ml to 20mg/ml. The thrombolytic effect for streptokinase (positive control) was 47.54% in distilled water, and 44.36% in phosphate buffer, compared with negative control which was 5.94% and 6.34% respectively. Phytochemical screening found flavonoids and coumarins in leaves extract and only flavonoids in fruit extract, so this may suggest that the increase in thrombolytic effect may be attributed to these flavonoids and coumarins. The total phenolic content was 15.78 (mg GAE1g) in leaves extract and 3.64 (mg GAE1g) in fruit extract, while the total flavonoid content was 0.813 (mg QE1g) in leaves extract, and 0.17 (mg QE1g) in fruit extract. In conclusion, these results showed that Melia azedarach has a thrombolytic effect.