Umachigi Sanjay Prahalad, Kumar G S, Jayaveera Kn, Kishore Kumar D V, Ashok Kumar C K, Dhanapal R
Rural College of Pharmacy, D.S. Road, PO Box-10, Devanahalli-562110, Bangalore Rural Dist, Karnataka, India.
Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2007 Jun 10;4(4):481-7.
Anthocephalus cadamba (Roxb.) Miq. Syn A. chinensis (Lamk) A. Rich (Rubiaceae) is ethnomedicinally widely used in the form of paste by tribe in western Ghats for treating skin diseases. In this context, antimicrobial potential of A. cadamba against a wide range of microorganisms was studied. To validate the ethnotherapeutic claims of the plant in skin diseases, wound healing activity was studied, besides antioxidant activity to understand the mechanism of wound healing. The alchoholic and aqueous extract of this plant showed significant antibacterial and antifungal activity against almost all the organisms: Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and four fungi Candida albicans, Trichophyton rubrum--dermatophyte fungi, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus nidulans--systemic fungi, with especially good activity against the dermatophyte (Trichophyton rubrum) and some infectious bacteria (Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus) with an MIC of 2.5 microg/disc. The results show that A. cadamba extract has potent wound healing capacity as shown from the wound contraction and increased tensile strength. The results also indicated that A. cadamba extract possesses potent antioxidant activity by inhibiting lipid peroxidation and increase in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activity.
团花树（Anthocephalus cadamba (Roxb.) Miq.，异名A. chinensis (Lamk) A. Rich，茜草科）在民族医学中被西高止山脉的部落广泛制成糊剂用于治疗皮肤病。在此背景下，研究了团花树对多种微生物的抗菌潜力。为了验证该植物在皮肤病方面的民族治疗功效，除了研究其抗氧化活性以了解伤口愈合机制外，还对其伤口愈合活性进行了研究。该植物的乙醇提取物和水提取物对几乎所有受试微生物均表现出显著的抗菌和抗真菌活性，这些微生物包括：藤黄微球菌、枯草芽孢杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌、大肠杆菌、肺炎克雷伯菌、奇异变形杆菌、铜绿假单胞菌，以及四种真菌，即白色念珠菌、红色毛癣菌（皮肤癣菌）、黑曲霉、黄曲霉和构巢曲霉（系统性真菌），尤其对皮肤癣菌（红色毛癣菌）和一些传染性细菌（大肠杆菌、奇异变形杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌）活性良好，最低抑菌浓度为2.5微克/圆片。结果表明，团花树提取物具有强大的伤口愈合能力，表现为伤口收缩和拉伸强度增加。结果还表明，团花树提取物通过抑制脂质过氧化以及提高超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶活性而具有强大的抗氧化活性。
