Antimicrobial Activities of Medicinal Plants Containing Phenolic Compounds

Background: Medicinal plants have been used to treat diseases for centuries. They are important sources in terms of their pharmacological effects and also have many microbial agents. Recently, the development of drug resistance has begun to spread in human pathogens against used antibiotics and this has led to new research for novel antimicrobial substances from natural products containing plants

Flavonoids of Helichrysum chasmolycicum and its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities

From the aerial parts of Helichrysum chasmolycicum P.H Davis, which is an endemic species in Turkey, the flavonoids apigenin, luteolin, kaempferol, 3,5-dihydroxy-6,7,8-trimethoxyflavone, 3,5-dihydroxy-6,7,8,4′-tetramethoxyflavone, apigenin 7-O-glucoside, apigenin 4′-O-glucoside, luteolin 4′-O-glucoside, luteolin 4′,7-O-diglucoside, kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, kaempferol 7-O-glucoside and quercetin 3-O-glucoside were isolated. The methanol extract of the aerial parts of H. chasmolycicum showed antioxidant activity by DPPH method (IC50 0.92mg/mL). Antimicrobial activity test was performed on the B, D, E extracts and also 3,5-dihydroxy-6,7,8-trimethoxyflavone and kaempferol 3-O-glucoside which were the major flavonoid compounds obtained from aerial parts of H. chasmolycicum by microbroth dilutions technique. The E (ethanol-ethyl acetate) extract showed moderate antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, B (petroleum ether-60% ethanol-chloroform) extract and 3,5-dihydroxy-6,7,8-trimethoxyflavone showed moderate antifungal activity against Candida albicans. © 2010 Elsevier B.V

Pyhtocosmetics in Pharmacy

The increased desire among individuals to live a comfortable life, to be healthy, beautiful and groomy with developing world order; allows cosmetics and dermocosmetics industry to rapidly develop and increases the demand for their use. In recent years, increased interest among people to natural products instead of synthetic chemicals in every issue, especially to herbal forms, led to an increase of phytocosmetics within the cosmetics sector. The plants, plant oils and extracts practiced with simple methods to stay young and become beautiful for centuries, have begun to take part in phytocosmetics products nowadays. As they are being preferred, their number and varities are increasing each day. Although not many scientific research is available regarding phytocosmetics products and most preferred plants in the industry, day by day increasing demand to these products attracts researchers' attention and directs them to research more on the issue. In our research, to contribute the areas of cosmetics, dermocosmetics and phytocosmetics; we aimed to identify the phytocosmetic products and plants within the composition of these products, present in the pharmacies of the Anatolian side of Istanbul. According to our research, ten most widely used plants are identified as; Butyrospermum parkii (118), Vitis vinifera (106), Helianthus annuus (103), Olea europaea (91), Glycine max (82), Rosmarinus officinalis (80), Simmondsia chinensis (76), Citrus aurantium var. dulcis (Citrus sinensis) (75), Aloe barbadensis (69), Citrus medica var. limonum (68)

Antimicrobial activity of rhizomes of Ferulago trachycarpa Boiss. and bioguided isolation of active coumarin constituents

Ferulago trachycarpa (Apiaceae) is a plant used traditionally for its sedative, digestive, carminative and aphrodisiac properties with distribution in West, Southwest and South Anatolian part of Turkey. In this study the antimicrobial activities of fractionally n-hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and only methanol extracts from rhizomes of F. trachycarpa were screened against Stapylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, S. epidermidis ATCC 12228, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Kiebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 4352, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Proteus mirabilis ATCC 14153, Enterococcus feacalis ATCC 29212 bacterial strains and fungal strains such as Candida albicans ATCC 10231, C. tropicalis ATCC 750 and C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019 by microdilution method. All extracts have been shown to possess antimicrobial activities against bacteria and fungal strains and according to the antimicrobial results, the isolation of the active constituents was made from the most active n-hexane and dichloromethane extracts. So, four pure compounds are known as coumarin derivatives, crenulatin (6-formyl-7-methoxycoumarin), suberosin (7-methoxy-6-prenylcoumarin), marmesin senecioate ((-)-prantschimgin) as dihydrofuranocoumarin derivative and ulopterol [6- (2', 3'-dihydroxy-3'-methylbuty1)-7-methoxy-coumarin] were isolated. Crenulatin (6-formyl-7-methoxycoumarin), suberosin (7-methoxy-6-prenylcoumarin), marmesin senecioate ((-)-prantschimgin) which are pure compounds demonstrated antifungal activity with 625 mg/L MIC against C. albicans and antibacterial activity with 1250 mg/L MIC against S. aureus (MRSA). These results indicate that extracts and pure compounds obtained from Ferulago trachycarpa could be a potential for pharmaceutical products which have antimicrobial activity

Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Ferulago trojana E. Akalin & Pimenov

Ferulago W. Koch is a genus in the Apiaceae family comprising 34 species, of which 18 are endemic in Turkey. Ferulago species have been known since the time of Dioscorides and have been used in folk medicine for their sedative, tonic, digestive, carminative, and aphrodisiac effects, as well as for the treatment of intestinal worms and hemorrhoids. This study was conducted to evaluate the polyphenolic contents and antioxidant activities of methanol extracts of the aerial parts (HFT) and rhizomes (RFT) of Ferulago trojana E. Akalin & Pimenov by measuring their ability to inhibit lipid peroxidation induced by Fe3+-ascorbate, their DPPH center dot and ABTS(center dot+) scavenging activities, and their ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP value). The methanol extracts were also examined for their antimicrobial activity using the microbroth dilution technique. Results showed that the methanol extracts of the aerial parts of the plant, containing the highest amount of total phenolic content and flavonoids, exhibited antioxidative potential for the chain-breaking inhibition of lipid peroxidation and showed the strongest hydrogen and single electron donor activities, which could thus serve as a free radical scavenger, act as a reductant, and provide protection against oxidative stress. Although the methanol extract of rhizomes did not exhibit any inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation, it is possible that it might also have protective effects against oxidative damage by scavenging free radicals and acting as a reductant. While both the methanol extracts of the aerial parts and rhizomes of F. trojana were effective against Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and S. epidermidis, the extracts showed no activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, the methanol extract of rhizomes of F. trojana exhibited antibacterial activity against Proteus mirabilis and antifungal activity against the yeast Candida albicans

Evaluation Of Antioxidant Activity Of Crataegus Species Collected From Different Regions Of Turkey

Crataegus species (Rosaceae), known as "Howthorn" have found special medicinal use for the treatment of mild heart diseases. This work aims to measure the antioxidant capacities of various Crataegus species growing in Turkey. In this study, the flowers and leaves from 52 samples belonging to 17 taxa of 14 Crataegus species naturally growing in Turkey have been investigated for their antioxidant activity/capacity. Four different methods (CUPRAC, FRAP, ABTS/Persulfate and Folin: FCR assays) were used for determination of the antioxidant capacities of the samples. The leaves and the flowers of the plants were studied separately. Samples representing the same species collected from different locations were studied separately. The results have indicated that the samples differing by some minor morphological characteristics exhibit considerably different antioxidant capacities. Among the flower samples, the most effective species was C. x sinaica Boiss. nothosubsp. sinaica and among the leaf samples C. pentagyna Waldst and Kit. ex. Willd. were the most active. Generally, C. monogyna Jacq. samples have exhibited markedly high antioxidant activity. Moreover, the species collected from Bolu district (surrounded by several forests and lakes) have shown significantly high activity regardless of the species differences among the samples.Wo

Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxant effect of Alchemilla vulgaris methanol extract: a comparison with the aqueous extract in rat aorta

We aimed to investigate the vascular effects of methanol extract (ME) and aqueous extract (AE) of Alchemilla vulgaris (Rosaceaea). Increasing concentrations of the ME (0.01-10 mg/mL) produced relaxations in noradrenaline (NA: 10(-6) M) and K+ (40mM) precontracted aortas while contractions were obtained with the AE (0.01-10 mg/mL). Responses to the ME were inhibited in the presence of putative inhibitors of endothelial vasodilators or after removal of the endothelium. Pretreatment of aortic rings with the ME (10 mg/mL, 20 min) reduced the maximal contractions to NA and K+, whereas an enhanced contractility was observed with the AE (10 mg/mL, 20 min). Total flavonoid content was higher in the ME than in the AE. Quercetin was determined particularly high in the ME while gallic acid was high in the AE. Our results indicated that the ME of A. vulgaris displays favourable vascular effects via endothelium-dependent mechanisms

Evaluation of Turkish Seaweeds for Antiprotozoal, Antimycobacterial and Cytotoxic Activities

As part of our continuing research on seaweeds, crude MeOH extracts of two green, three brown and six red algae collected from Marmara, Black, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas were screened. Four parasitic protozoa, i.e. Plasmodium falciparum, Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani and the tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis were used as test organisms for the in vitro assays. The selective toxicity of the extracts was also determined against mammalian L6 cells. All seaweed extracts were active against T. brucei rhodesiense; the Dasya pedicellata extract was the most potent (IC50 value 0.37 µg/mL). The same extract also weakly inhibited the growth of T. cruzi (IC50 62.02 µg/mL). All seaweed extracts also showed leishmanicidal activity (IC50 values 16.76–69.98 µg/mL). The majority of the extracts also exhibited antiplasmodial potential and the most potent extracts were those from D. pedicellata (IC50 0.38 µg/mL), Codium bursa (IC50 1.38 µg/mL) and Caulerpa rasemosa (IC50 3.12 µg/mL). One brown and two red algal extracts showed some weak activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MIC values 125–256 µg/mL). Except for the extract of Dasya pedicellata, none of the extracts displayed any cytotoxicity. This is the second study investigating the antiprotozoal activities of Turkish marine algae and identifies Dasya pedicellata, an understudied algal species, as a candidate for further studies