Isolation of Β-sitosterol & Stigmasterol as Active Immunomodulatory Constituents from Fruits of Solanum Xanthocarpum (solanaceae)

General phytochemical screening of the aqueous extract of fruits of Solanum xanthocarpum (Solanaceae) revealed the presence of steroids, terpenes, phenolic compounds, saponins, fatty acids, alkaloids. Fractionation of aqueous extract and activity guided isolation resulted in isolation of two white crystalline powder which were subjected to physical, chemical and spectral identification using IR, H‐NMR, C‐NMR and LC‐MS. On the basis of the spectral data analysis and chemical reactions, the compounds have been established as β-sitosterol and Stigmasterol. INTRODUCTION: Solanum xanthocarpum belonging to family Solanaceae commonly known as Indian night shade or yellow berried night shade is a perennial herbaceous weed. Different parts of this plant have been used traditionally for curing various ailments such as fever, cough, asthma and diabetes in Indian traditional medicines . The hot aqueous extract of dried fruits is used for treating cough, fever and heart diseases . The plant is extensively studied for the various pharmacological activities like antiasthmatic , hepatoprotective , cardiovascular , hypoglycemic , antiulcer 7 and other properties. Scientific evidence in favor of the traditional use of the fruits of Solanum xanthocarpum for the treatment of diabetes mellitus has been reported . The total extracts and steroidal saponins of Solanum xanthocarpum, have been reported to exhibit potent antistress-adaptogenic effects . To prove traditional claim of this plant preliminary immunomodulatory evaluation of aqueous extract of fruits of Solanum xanthocarpum on cyclophosphamide induced immunosuppression was carried out and the results indicated good protection by showing increase in all the hematological parameters . In continuation of the work, it was proposed to isolate active immunomodulating agents from the extract. The fruits are reported to contain several steroidal alkaloids like solanacarpine , solanacarpidine, solancarpine, solasodine, solasonine 12 and solamargine . Other constituents like caffeic acid 14 coumarins like aesculetin and aesculin , steroids carpesterol, diosgenin, campesterol, daucosterol and triterpenes like cycloartanol and cycloartenol are also reported from the fruits . In this paper, we report the isolation and characterization of bioactive principles namely βsitosterol and stigmasterol from aqueous extracts of fruits of Solanum xanthocarpum. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Plant material. Fruits of the plant, Solanum xanthocarpum were collected from APRC Lab Chennai and authentication no APRC/78/22/08-09. The sample was shade dried and powdered to #22.