Antibacterial and antifungal activity of extracts and exudates of the Amazonian medicinal tree Himatanthus articulatus (Vahl) Woodson (common name: sucuba)

Abstract

Himatanthus articulatus (Vahl) Woodson is a tree found in the northern Amazon savannahs (common name:Promoting scientific research into traditional medicine can be a means of preventing the disappearance of the cultural practices of a people and provide a simple and locally accessible therapeutic alternative to local health authorities. In recent times, greater access to industrialized pharmaceuticals has, in general, been accompanied by a decline in medicinal knowledge and the use of plant-based remedies. However, in the Amazon Region, the medicinal use of products derived from plants by local communities continues to be a significant practice. Furthermore, many local indigenous populations depend exclusively on natural products for the treatment and cure of disease (Milliken 1995). In general, many widely-used plant-derived remedies from the Amazon have never been evaluated in a laboratory or clinical setting. Such investigations generate valuable knowledge on the potential of Amazon biodiversity (Carneiro et al. 2008).Himatanthus articulatus (Vahl) Woodson (Apocynaceae) is a tree found in Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and in the savannah regions of the state of Roraima (RR), in the northern Brazilian Amazon (Milliken 1995, Wood et al. 2001, Mobot 2007 (Elizabetsky & Castilhos 1990) and are important agents in the treatment of blood parasites such as Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania donovani (Mesquita et al. 2005). Antitumor and aphrodisiac properties have been reported for the latex derived from sucuba, which is typically diluted in water and administered orally (Van den Berg 1984). According to Souza et al. (2004), plants belonging to the genus Himatanthus demonstrate a large spectrum of anti-bacterial activities. Also, sucuba is commonly sold for use as an antimicrobial agent in popular markets in RR. No previous investigation of the antibacterial or antifungal activity of H. articulatus is available in the literature, although antimicrobial activity has been reported for other Himatanthus spp. (Morel et al. 2006).It is known that microorganisms frequently become resistant to conventional antimicrobial agents, so the utilization of natural antimicrobial agents could represent a low-cost alternative therapy for traditional communities from the Brazilian Amazon. Also, chemical studies of antimicrobial plant extracts could reveal new substances with potential usefulness as antimicrobial drugs or as models for the development of new drugs. Thus, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the antibacterial and antifungal potential of leaf, bark and branch wood extracts and the latex of H. articulatus against the growth of several human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains.According to statistical data available from the Laboratório Central de Roraima (LACEN), which is located in Boa Vista, the capital of RR, for the period of 2004-2007, Escherichia coli was responsible for 80% of the clinical cases of genital and urinary infections, Staphylococcus aureus was resp...

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