Antifungal activity of constituents from the heartwood of Gmelina arborea: Part 1. Sensitive antifungal assay against Basidiomycetes

Abstract

Antifungal activity of constituents from the heartwood of the Malaysian Gmelina arborea against Trametes versicolor and Fomitopsis palustris was investigated. A sensitive bioassay system for antifungal activity against basidiomycetes was developed which uses a medium in which homogenized hyphae were dispersed. Ethyl acetate- solubles from the heartwood showed the highest activity against both fungi, although the activity against F. palustris was quite weak. Spots exhibiting antifungal activity against T. versicolor were specified by autobiography of ethyl acetate-solubles, and five constituents were isolated and identified as (+)-7′-O-ethyl arboreol, (+)-paulownin, (+)-gmelinol, (+)-epieudesmin and (−)-β-sitosterol. The four lignans showed antifungal activity, whereas β-sitosterol did not. From the comparison of antifungal activity, it was concluded that the piperonyl nucleus contributed to the activity of lignans. Of the four lignans isolated, gmelinol appeared to be an important antifungal constituent, since it was rich in the heartwood of G. arborea. Furthermore, the synergism by coexistence of these five compounds was confirmed.

Accumulation and Secretion of Coumarinolignans and other Coumarins in Arabidopsis thaliana Roots in Response to Iron Deficiency at High pH

“…For instance, increased antifungal activities were observed when the phenyl ring in a monomeric phenylpropanoid derivative was replaced by naphthyl or phenanthryl rings, whereas no or very low antifungal activity is associated to the monomeric phenylpropanoid moieties in conventional lignans (Apers et al, 2003). Second, the occurrence of methoxy substituents in lignans appear confer stronger insecticide and fungicide activities, whereas the presence of polar substituents, especially hydroxy or glycoside groups, sometimes reduced them (Harmatha and Nawrot, 2002; Harmatha and Dinan, 2003; Kawamura et al, 2004). Since cleomiscosin structures differ in the methoxy and hydroxy substituents ( Figure 1C ), their possible insecticide and fungicide activities is likely to be different.…”

Two Antifungal Xanthones from the Heartwood of Calophyllum Symingtonianum

“…These results were similar to ours. The difference in the intensity of activity was probably due to the difference in the antifungal assay method used or the species of the fungus 10,22 . In the present work, the antifungal assay of compounds 1 and 2 against white-rot fungus was performed for the first time.…”

“…The activity of extracts often decreases in the processes of fractionation or isolation due to the loss of synergism 10 . However, in the present work, the antifungal activity of n-hexane-solubles against P. sanguineus was improved in comparison with the methanol extracts reported in our previous paper (Table 1) 9 .…”

“…Antifungal assays were performed based on our previous papers 9,10,11 . The fungal strains used were Gloeophyllum trabeum MI-102 from the School of Biology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Pycnoporus sanguineus KUM 70097 from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM).…”

Anticariogenic Activity and Haemolytic Study of Some Medicinal Plants Leaf Protein Extract against Six Oral pathogens in In vitro condition

“…Although use of micro-dilution in determining anti-Candida activity is the best way (Makimura et al, 1998,) other methods such as agar diffusion and paper disc diffusion could be utilized as a screening method or in combination with a micro-dilution assay (Kawamura et al,2004). In this study the anti-Candida activities were assessed by measuring the diameter of the zone around the agar wells; in other studies discs with different diameters were used (Hammer et al,1998).…”