The anti-amoebic activity of some medicinal plants used by AIDS patients in southern Thailand

Abstract

The anti-amoebic activities of chloroform, methanol and water extracts from 12 Thai medicinal plants (39 extracts) commonly used by AIDS patients in southern Thailand were screened, at a concentration of 1,000 microg/ml, against Entamoeba histolytica strain HTH-56:MUTM and strain HM1:IMSS growing in vitro. The extracts were incubated with 2x10(5) E. histolytica trophozoites/ml of medium at 37 degrees C under anaerobic conditions for 24 h. The cultures were examined with an inverted microscope and scored (1-4) according to the appearance and numbers of the trophozoites. The extracts that caused inhibition were selected and retested using the same conditions but with concentrations that ranged from 31.25 to 1,000 microg/ml using E. histolytica strain HM1:IMSS, and the IC(50) values for each extract were calculated. The chloroform extracts from Alpinia galanga (IC(50) 55.2 microg/ml), Barleria lupulina (IC(50) 78.5 microg/ml), Boesenbergia pandurata (IC(50) 45.8 microg/ml), Piper betle (IC(50) 91.1 microg/ml) and Piper chaba (IC(50) 71.4 microg/ml) and the methanol extract from B. pandurata (IC(50) 57.6 microg/ml) were all classified as "active", i.e. with an IC(50) of less than 100 microg/ml, whereas those from Murraya paniculata (IC(50) 116.5 microg/ml) and Zingiber zerumbet (IC(50) 196.9 microg/ml) were classified as being "moderately active". The IC(50) of a standard drug, metronidazole, was 1.1 microg/ml.

Quercus infectoria Oliv. ve Achillea millefolium L. Ekstrelerinin Blastocystis spp. İzolatlarına in vitro Etkileri

“…However, it has some drawbacks which are more severe in HIV-infected patients, such as nasty side effects, metallic taste, and headache [5][6][7]24,25 . Despite some other agents such as cotrimaxazole 26 was shown to be effective against Blastocystis spp., they are not commonly used and thus there is a need for new anti-protozoal agents which are safe and effective.…”

Chemical composition of the leaf essential oils of Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng and Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack

“…The essential oils showed significant anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities (Dash et al, 2004). Sawangjaroen et al (2006) -…”

Efficacy of Antiamebic Drugs in a Mouse Model

“…7 These data have spurred the development of novel antiamebic therapies; there have been many recent reports of novel potentially antiamebic compounds produced by de novo synthesis and screening of plant-derived compounds. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Nitazoxanide is a drug recently approved in the United States for cryptosporidiosis. It has been reported to treat intestinal amebiasis both clinically and microbiologically, 5 but no comparative trials with metronidazole have been performed.…”