Background:The Pharmaceutical companies are very interested in the discovery of new natural bioactive molecules with an impoortant effect and less toxicity, in order to replace old drugs, especially antibiotics which had lost their effectiveness following the spread of multi-resistant bacteria. This study was aimed to investigate, in vitro, some extracts (aqueous extracts, oily extracts and essential oils) of arabic and myrrh gums, plant exudates commonly used in folk medicine for treating several diseases. Materials and Methods: The antimicrobial activity against clinical bacterial and fungal strains was carried out using disk diffusion and broth dilution methods. Cytotoxic activity was mesured using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay determining the LC 50 and genotoxic activity by the preincubation Ames Test using Salmonella strains TA100, TA98 and TA1535 treated with or without the metabolic activation (S9 fraction). Results: An interesting antimicrobial activity was demonstrated, especilly against Gram negative strains. Inhibition zones vary between 16 and 30 mm and MIC's values between 15.62 and 250 μg/ml. All the tested extracts exhibited a bactericidal activity.The arabic gum extracts showed no cytotoxic effect with LC 50 > 100 µg/ml. Myrrh gum extracts showed a significant toxicity to the brine shrimp nauplii with LC 50 < 100 µg/ml. Results of the Ames test indicated that all tested extracts did not possess genotoxic potential. Conclusion: Our study highlighted the antimicrobial potential of gums extracts, making them an excellent drug candidates against resistant pathogens.

Objectives:To evaluate the in vivo anti-ulcer and anti-inflammatory activities of methanol extract of the aerial parts of Gladiolus segetum. Methods: first methanol extract of Gladiolus segetum was subjected to the acute oral toxicity test according to the OECD, guideline no 423.The anti-ulcer activity of Gladiolus segetum was investigated by ethanol induced gastric ulcer in Wistar rats. Methanol extract was administered by gavage one hour before ethanol to the different groups at a dose corresponding of 100,250 and 500 mg/kg body weight. The control group received normal saline in comparable volume (10ml/kg body weight) by the same route. The anti-inflammatory activity of the tested extract was evaluated in adult wistar rats by the egg albumin induced paw edema method. Results: A significant reduction (p <0.001) was observed in the results of the present study, revealed that methanol extract possessed gastroprotective activity and exerts a topical anti-inflammatory effect in vivo. Conclusion: These results suggest that methanol extract of Gladiolus segetum may represent an important clinical alternative in anti-inflammatory and antiulcer genic therapeutics.

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In the last few years, the interest in sulfonamides has expanded owing to their broad spectrum of biological activities. Their flexible structure turns them into amazing candidates to replace old drugs or develop modern multi‐target agents. In this study, a series of new sulfonamides (sul1‐5) was evaluated, in vitro, for the antibacterial, cytotoxic and genotoxic effects. The antibacterial activity was investigated against 12 clinical and 4 reference strains. Cytotoxic activity was carried out by the brine shrimp bioassay and the genotoxicity was assessed in the Ames test. An interesting antibacterial activity was showed especially against Gram negative strains. The inhibition zones varied between 15 and 30 mm, and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC’s) values between 0.5 and 256 μg/ml. No antibacterial activity was shown with S. aureus isolates. Only Sul1 and Sul4 were active against P. aeruginosa. Compounds Sul1 and Sul2 showed a significant cytotoxicity with LC50 equal to 18.29 and 18 μg/ml respectively, and a genotoxic effect against TA100 and TA1535 Salmonella strains. Only compounds Sul3, Sul4 and Sul5 with an interesting antibacterial activity, no cytotoxicity and no genotoxic effects, could be exploited against resistant pathogens as new drugs.