Antimicrobial, antileishmanial and cytotoxic compounds from Piper chaba

Abstract

The petroleum ether and chloroform extracts of the root of Piper chaba showed antimicrobial, antileishmanial and cytotoxic activities. Further bioactivity-guided fractionation led to the isolation of Bornyl piperate (1), piperlonguminine (2) and piperine (3). This is the first report of isolation of compounds (1) and (2) from P. chaba. It was observed that the isolated compounds (1 and 2) showed potent antifungal activity when compared with standard drug Nystatin, and significant cytotoxic activity with the IC₅₀ values of 0.76 and 0.83 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. These compounds were also found to have weak antibacterial and antileishmanial activities. This is the first report about the antileishmanial activity of Piper isolates.

Keywords:

• Piper chaba
• antimicrobial
• antileishmanial
• cytotoxicity

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Priority Research Centers Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, (2009-0094061) and by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2009-0341).