Antischistosomal and Antimicrobial Activities of Some Egyptian Plant Species

Abstract

On the bases of ethnomedicinal and random plant collection approaches for searching out new pharmacologically bioactive agents, 45 Egyptian plant species belonging to 25 families were collected, and methanol extracts (52) were assayed in vitro for their antischistosomal and antimicrobial activities. Only extracts of Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae) and Nerium oleander L. (Apocynaceae) were lethal to Schistosoma mansoni worms after a 24-h incubation period in a culture medium at concentration up to 100 μ g/mL. The different successive organic extracts of C. longa showed variable activities and the greatest activity was exhibited by the chloroform extract (EC₅₀ = 28.92 and 31.58 μ g/mL against male and female worms, respectively). On the other hand, the antimicrobial potency of the methanol extracts were tested using the disk diffusion method against three bacteria and two fungi species: Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Aspergillus niger, and Candida albicans. Three plants, Chamomilla recutita L. (Asteraceae), Buddleja hybrida Lour. (Buddlejaceae), and Glinus lotoides L. (Molluginaceae), showed the highest antimicrobial potency. Also, antimicrobial screening of the different organic solvent extracts of these three plants was investigated by measuring the diameter of inhibition zone. Finally, the active extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis using chemical tests and thin-layer and paper chromatography to explore the major classes of natural products that may be responsible for their activity.

Keywords:

• Antimicrobial
• antischistosomal
• plant extracts