Vol. 8, Issue 1, Part A (2026)

The present work was undertaken to isolate a bronchodilator compound from Ficus trichopoda leaves used in traditional medicine to manage asthma symptoms in Madagascar. Isolated guinea pig trachea was used as experimental model. Bioassays fractioning followed by purification on preparative chromatography plate were used to isolate the active molecule. Bioassays reveal that the ethyl acetate fraction induced relaxation of histamine-contracted isolated trachea with an EC₅₀ of 61.31 µg/mL. Elution with dichloromethane-hexane-methanol (90:9:1 v/v/v) of this fraction gives 7 spots at Rf 0.24, 0.28, 0.37, 0.50, 0.61, 0.69, and 0.78. The molecule at Rf 0.50 relaxes isolated trachea precontracted with histamine (10 µM), with an EC₅₀ of 1.581 10-4 M. Chemical shifts (δH) and spin-spin coupling constants (JHH) data were compared with literature to identify the isolate as 2-(2,3-dihydroxyphenyl)-4-ethylchroman-3,5,6-triol (MR23), belonging to the flavonoid family.