Study of in silico and in vitro Anthelmintic Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Artemisia pallens Wall Ex. DC

Background: Helminths, a disease that affects all ages, are being treated with medicinal herbs such as Artemisia pallens Wall. ex DC, a traditional plant material with phytomedicinal properties. Objectives: The study assesses the anthelmintic activity of ethanolic plant material extract against common gastrointestinal helminths and explores its potential as an alternative or complementary treatment for parasitic infections. Materials And Methods: Indian adult earthworm Pheritima posthuma was employed to screen anthelmintic activity. Worms were exposed to different concentration 10 mg/mL, 20 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL, 80 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL concentrations of extract and standard drug, albendazole. Molecular docking for the observation of compounds which had higher activities towards the NADH-Fumarate reductase enzyme. From the database, the compounds with higher docking fitness scores determined using the Auto Dock software version 1.5.6. Further, the ADME/T profiling was done on Swiss ADME Analysis and also on pkCSM software tool. Results: Preliminary phytochemical analysis of EEAP indicated the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenols, terpenoids. The anthelmintic potential of A. pallens extract, which showed strong antihelminthic activity in combination with adult Pheritima posthuma that produced paralysis and death at an earlier period as compared to albendazole, while the molecular docking study found good binding scores in the range of -5.15 kcal/mol to -9.6 kcal/mol with the fumarate reductase enzyme. Conclusion: The study confirmed the potential anthelmintic activity of Artemisia pallens. Wall extract, with compounds showing favorable binding scores indicating potential for forthcoming clinical investigations.