Antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity of selected Egyptian medicinal plants.

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been used as a source of remedies since ancient times in Egypt. The present study was designed to investigate the antibacterial activity and the cytotoxicity of the organic extracts from 16 selected medicinal plants of Egypt. The study was also extended to the isolation of the antiproliferative compound jaeschkeanadiol p-hydroxybenzoate (FH-25) from Ferula hermonis. The microbroth dilution was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the samples against twelve bacterial strains belonging to four species, Providencia stuartii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli, while a resazurin assay was used to assess the cytotoxicity of the extracts on the human pancreatic cancer cell line MiaPaCa-2, breast cancer cell line MCF-7, CCRF-CEM leukemia cells, and their multidrug resistant subline, CEM/ADR5000. The results of the MIC determination indicated that all the studied crude extracts were able to inhibit the growth of at least one of the tested bacterial species, the best activity being recorded with the crude extracts from F. hermonis and Vitis vinifera, whichwere active against 91.7% and 83.3% of the studied bacteria, respectively. The lowest MIC value of 128 μg/mL was recorded against P. stuartii ATCC 29916 and E. coli ATCC 10536 with the extract from V. vinifera and Commiphora molmol, respectively. In the cytotoxicity study, IC50 values below 20 μg/mL were recorded for the crude extract of F. hermonis on all four studied cancer cell lines. FH-25 also showed good cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cells (IC50: 2.47 μg/mL). Finally, the results of the present investigation provided supportive data for the possible use of the plant extracts investigated herein, mostly F. hermonis and V. vinifera in the treatment of bacterial infections and jaeschkeanadiol p-hydroxybenzoate in the control of cancer diseases.

• Authors: Victor Kuete, Benjamin Wiench, Mohamed-Elamir F Hegazy, Tarik A Mohamed, Aimé G Fankam, Abdelaaty A Shahat, Thomas Efferth
• Journal: Planta medica (Planta Med) Vol. 78 Issue 2 Pg. 193-9 (Jan 2012) ISSN: 1439-0221 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 22057918 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents
• Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
• Plant Extracts
• Sesquiterpenes
• jaeschkeanadiol

Topics

• Anti-Bacterial Agents (isolation & purification, pharmacology)
• Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic (isolation & purification, pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Breast Neoplasms (drug therapy)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Drug Resistance, Neoplasm (drug effects)
• Egypt
• Escherichia coli (drug effects)
• Female
• Ferula (chemistry)
• Humans
• Inhibitory Concentration 50
• Klebsiella (drug effects)
• Leukemia (drug therapy)
• Magnoliopsida (chemistry)
• Microbial Sensitivity Tests
• Phytotherapy
• Plant Extracts (chemistry, pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Plants, Medicinal (chemistry)
• Providencia (drug effects)
• Pseudomonas (drug effects)
• Sesquiterpenes (isolation & purification, pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Vitis (chemistry)