Anti-infective activities of 11 plants species used in traditional medicine in Malaysia

Abstract

Treatment of drug resistant protozoa, bacteria, and viruses requires new drugs with alternative chemotypes. Such compounds could be found from Southeast Asian medicinal plants. The present study examines the cytotoxic, antileishmanial, and antiplasmodial effects of 11 ethnopharmacologically important plant species in Malaysia. Chloroform extracts were tested for their toxicity against MRC-5 cells and Leishmania donovani by MTT, and chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum K1 strain by Histidine-Rich Protein II ELISA assays. None of the extract tested was cytotoxic to MRC-5 cells. Extracts of Uvaria grandiflora, Chilocarpus costatus, Tabernaemontana peduncularis, and Leuconotis eugenifolius had good activities against L. donovani with IC 50 < 50 µg/mL. Extracts of U. grandiflora, C. costatus, T. peduncularis, L. eugenifolius, A. subulatum, and C. aeruginosa had good activities against P. falciparum K1 with IC 50 < 10 µg/mL. Pinoresinol isolated from C. costatus was inactive against L. donovani and P. falciparum. C. costatus extract and pinoresinol increased the sensitivity of Staphylococcus epidermidis to cefotaxime. Pinoresinol demonstrated moderate activity against influenza virus (IC 50 = 30.4 ± 11 µg/mL) and was active against Coxsackie virus B3 (IC 50 = 7.1 ± 3.0 µg/mL). β-Amyrin from L. eugenifolius inhibited L. donovani with IC 50 value of 15.4 ± 0.01 µM. Furanodienone from C. aeruginosa inhibited L. donovani and P. falciparum K1 with IC 50 value of 39.5 ± 0.2 and 17.0 ± 0.05 µM, respectively. Furanodienone also inhibited the replication of influenza and Coxsackie virus B3 with IC 50 value of 4.0 ± 0.5 and 7.2 ± 1.4 µg/mL (Ribavirin: IC 50 : 15.6 ± 2.0 µg/mL), respectively. Our study provides evidence that medicinal plants in Malaysia have potentials as a source of chemotypes for the development of antiinfective leads.

Naturally Lignan-Rich Foods: A Dietary Tool for Health Promotion?

“…About antimicrobial activity, various lignans have exhibited antiviral and antibacterial activity, e.g., against Gram-positive bacteria through alteration of biofilm formation, bacteria metabolites, membrane receptors and ion channels [98]. For instance, pinoresinol has demonstrated activity against some virus [99].…”

Antioxidant and antimicrobial alkaloids isolated from twigs of Uvaria grandiflora Roxb.

“…The antimicrobial activity against tested microbes including Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC29213), Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), and Candida albicans (ATCC 10231) at 10 µg/ml concentration revealed that all the compounds screened did not show inhibitory activity (for information detail; see Table S4). According to literature reports, the crude extracts and pure compounds isolated from various parts of U. grandiflora were examined for several biological activities such as cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities [6][7][8][9][20][21][22]. To the best our search from SciFinder database, compounds 1-6 have never been investigated for their antioxidant activity.…”

Potent Anti-amoebic Effects of Ibogaine, Voacangine and the Root Bark Alkaloid Fraction of Tabernaemontana arborea

“…have also been reported, including extracts and alkaloids from T. citrifolia on the gastrointestinal nematode Haemonchus contortus [22], T. elegans, T. pachysiphon, T. peduncularis and T. macrocarpa on the malarial protozoan Plasmodium falciparum [23][24][25][26], T. pandacaqui on the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, causal agent of Chagas disease [27] and T. longipes on Trypanosoma brucei, causal agent of African sleeping sickness [28]. Previous phytochemical research has shown T. arborea root bark to be particularly rich in monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs), including ibogaine, voacangine, and vobasine, as well as the bis-indole type alkaloid voacamine [21,29].…”