Assessment of Oil and Seed Extracts of Moringa oleifera for Promising Anticandidal Activity in Autistic Children

Abstract

Egyptian Journal of Botany http://ejbo.journals.ekb.eg/ 57 M ORINGA OLEIFERA (M. oleifera) is a plant with a high nutritional value and an impressive range of medicinal uses. Plants of the Moringaceae family contain a wide range of secondary metabolites with biological activities, with an essential role in the pharmaceutical industry. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the anticandidal, antioxidant properties and chemical constituents of M. oleifera oil and its seed extracts with its in vivo toxicological assessment as herbal medicine. The results showed that M. oleifera oil showed the highest antifungal activity against six strains of Candida species isolated from the stool samples of the autistic children, which included C. albicans, C. dulblinesis, C. glabarata, C. kefyr, C. krusei, and C. lusitania. The M. oleifera oil (1.0%) exhibited the highest growth rate reduction and antioxidant activity. The GC/MS of M. oleifera oil revealed 17 compounds with methyl ester, stigmasterol, tetraphenyl and vitamin E as significant components. Moreover, an in vivo toxicological assessment confirmed the safety of M. oleifera oil. Therefore, M. oleifera oil can serve to be a promising therapy for improving autistic gastrointestinal problems.

Autism: plants with neuro-psychopharmacotherapeutic potential

“…Within this context, an investigation conducted in Egypt evaluated the effect of oil extracted from M. oleifera seeds on autism. According to the study findings, M. oleifera has been reported to have a positive effect on Candida species including C. albicans, C. dulblinesis, C. glabarata, C. kefyr, C. krusei, and C. lusitania in faecal samples of autistic children and is promising for improving gastrointestinal problems [62].…”