Evaluation of the genus Treculia for antimycobacterial, anti-reverse transcriptase, radical scavenging and antitumor activities

AbstractThis study was designed to evaluate the antimycobacterial, anti-reverse transcriptase, radical scavenging and antitumor activities of the methanol extracts of the twigs and leaves of three plants of the genus Treculia, namely Treculia obovoidea, Treculia africana and Treculia acuminata. The DPPH radical scavenging assay was used for the antioxidant test while the crown gall tumor assay was used for antitumor evaluation. The INT colorimetry and microplate Alamar blue assay (MABA) were used for antimycobacterial investigations. The results of the antimycobacterial assays, showed that the leaf crude extract of the three Treculia species as well as that from the twigs of T. africana were able to prevent the growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The lowest MIC value (19.53µg/ml) was recorded with extract of the leaves of T. africana on M. smegmatis, and those of T. africana and T. acuminata against M. tuberculosis. All studied extracts inhibited at various extents the anti-reverse transcriptase activity at 200µg/ml. The best IC50 values, 31.1µg/ml, 29.5µg/ml and 21.1µg/ml were recorded respectively with the extracts of the leaves of T. obovoidea, T. acuminata and T. africana. Results of the antioxidant activity indicate a dose-dependent ability of sample to scavenge the DPPH radical. The lowest IC50 values were obtained with extracts of the leaves of T. acuminata (56.3µg/ml) and T. obovoidea (55.9µg/ml). Pronounced tumor-reducing activity was observed with the extracts of the leaves of T. africana (89.67%), T. acuminata (92.16%), T. obovoidea (96.67%) and that of the twigs of T. acuminata (87.18%). The overall results provide evidence that plants of the genus Treculia might be potential sources of antitubercular, anti-HIV and antitumor compounds

Antimicrobial activity of the methanolic extracts and compounds from Treculia africana and Treculia acuminata (Moraceae)

AbstractThe crude methanolic extracts from Treculia africana and Treculia acuminata, three compounds isolated from T. africana and identified as, Phyllocoumarin (1), Catechin (2) and 6, 9-dihydroxy-megastigmane-3-one (3), four compounds namely 2, 3, 2,3-dihydroxypropyl-heptadecanoate (4), and Ferulic acid (5) isolated from T. acuminata were tested for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (six species), Gram-negative bacteria (12 species) and three Candida species. The micro-dilution method for the determination of the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) and the Minimal microbicidal concentration (MMC) was used. The MIC values obtained with the crude extracts varied from 78 to 156 μg/ml against 12 (57.14%) and 20 (95.24%) of the 21 tested microorganisms respectively for T. acuminata and T. africana. Apart from compound 2 that prevented the growth of all the tested microorganisms, other bioactive compounds showed selective activity. The obtained results provide promising baseline information for the potential use of these crude extracts as well as some of the isolated compounds in the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections