Alternanthera sessilis,also known as ‘sessile joyweed’ or ‘dwarf copperleaf’, is a popular vegetable and used in traditional medicine in some Asian countries including Bangladesh for the treatment of various ailments. Anthelmintic activity of the ethanol extract of A. sessilis (ASE) and one of its major constituents ellagic acid (EA) was tested against cattle nematode Haemonchus contortus by adult motility test and egg hatch assay. In adult motility test, both ASE (1.56-50 mg/ml) and EA (0.09-3 mg/ml) showed a concentration dependent inhibitory effect on H. contortus. All test worms died 6 h post-exposure of 12.5 mg/ml of ASE treatment and 6 h post-exposure of 1.5 mg/ml of EA treatment. For the concentration of 1.5 mg/ml of the reference drug albendazole, all test worms died 2 h post-exposure of the treatment. In egg hatch assay, both ASE (0.0125-25 mg/ml) and EA (0.0125-25 µg/ml) showed a concentration dependent inhibition of the larval production from H. controtus eggs with the LC₅₀ value of 150.00 and 3.097 µg/ml, respectively. The LC₅₀ for albendazole (0.0125-25 µg/ml) was 0.163 µg/ml. In the HPLC analysis, EA, rutin, (+) catechin and quercetin (3007.26, 490.74, 117.72 and 13.85 mg/100 g extract, respectively) were detected. Phytochemical group test of ASE indicated the presence of reducing sugars, steroids, terpenoids, saponins, tannins and flavonoids. Thus, high level of EA in ASE, along with other phytochemical constituents might be responsible for the observed activity of the extract.

Key words: Adult motility test, Egg hatch assay, HPLC analysis, Phenolics