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Epidemiological evidences suggest that high intake of plant foods is associated with lower risk of chronic
diseases. In recent years, secondary metabolites such as polyphenols, flavonoids, flavonols etc.
extensively present in a wide range of plant foods are identified to have different biological roles. The
molecular mechanisms involved in the anti-inflammatory activity of flavonoids include inhibition of proinflammatory
enzymes viz. cycloxygenase (COX), lipoxidase (LOX), nitric oxide synthase (NO synthase),
xanthine oxidase(XO) etc. In the present study, influence of the methanolic extract and solvent fractions
(hexane, benzene, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water) obtained by sequential fractionation of methanolic
extract of aniseeds (Pimpinella anisum L.) on the activities of inflammatory enzymes viz. lipoxidase and
xanthine oxidase were evaluated at 100-500 μg/ml. Ethyl acetate fraction exerted maximum inhibition on
the activities of soyabean lipoxidase (IC50-95μg/ml) and xanthine oxidase (IC50- 260 μg/ml) as compared
with methanolic extract and the other fractions indicating very effective anti-inflammatory activity
attributable to the phenolic compounds viz. flavonoids, flavonols extracted in to ethyl acetate fraction
from the methanolic extract of aniseeds. Hence, aniseeds containing a large amount of phenolic
compounds can be useful as therapeutic agents.
Keywords: Aniseeds (Pimpinella anisum L.), anti-inflammatory activities, ethyl acetate fraction, benzene
fraction, flavonoids.