Screening of Alternanthera repens., Boerhavia coccinea., Flaveria trinervia., Tournefortia densiflora., and Vitex mollis. Extracts to Evaluate their Antibacterial Activity and Effect on Smooth Muscle. I

Abstract

Organic extracts of five medicinal plants (Alternanthera repens. (L) Kuntze, Boerhavia coccinea. Mill, Flaveria trinervia. (Spreng) C. Mohr, Tournefortia densiflora. M. et G., and Vitex mollis. Kunth), widely used in traditional Mexican medicine for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery, were evaluated for antibacterial and intestinal antispasmodic activity. The antibacterial properties were determined in vitro. by the agar dilution method against multi-resistant enteric bacteria obtained from clinical isolates of Escherichia coli. R166 and R170, Salmonella typhi. R1234 and R 1330, and Enterobacter cloacae. R819, and against ATCC strains Shigella sonnei. 11060, Escherichia coli. 25922, Proteus mirabilis. 43071, and Salmonella typhimurium. 14028. In order to evaluate the effect of the extracts on the contraction induced in vitro., preparations of intestine from guinea-pigs were used. The integral extracts of B. coccinea. and T. densiflora. were the most active species with a MIC of <2 mg/ml. The highest antispasmodic activity was obtained with V. mollis. extract, 37% motility inhibition. These findings could be useful in the search for new therapeutic agents.

Keywords:

• Alternanthera repens
• antibacterial activity
• antispasmodic activity
• Boerhavia coccinea
• diarrhea
• dysentery
• Flaveria trinervia
• multi-resistant enteric bacteria
• Tournefortia densiflora
• Vitex mollis