School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Nat Prod Res. 2011 Nov;25(19):1857-64. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2010.537274. Epub 2011 Aug 12.
The world's rainforests hold untold potential for drug discovery. Rainforest plants are thought to contain evolved defensive active metabolites of greater diversity compared to plants from temperate regions. In recent years, the interest and overall output from pharmaceutical companies on novel antibacterial agents has diminished at a time when there is a critical need for them to fight the threat of resistance. In this study, we have investigated the antimicrobial properties of 21 flowering plants from 16 different families against six bacterial strains consisting of two Gram negative and four Gram positive. Using the pour plate disc diffusion technique, almost all extracts from these plants were found to be active against some of the bacterial strains tested. The most interesting and active plants with broad spectrum activities include Duabanga grandiflora, Acalypha wilkesiana and Pseuduvaria macrophylla where the minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration and phytochemical analysis were carried out. This is the first report describing the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of D. grandiflora and P. macrophylla. Our findings support the utilisation of higher plant species in the search for new antimicrobial molecules to combat new emerging infective diseases and the problem of drug resistant pathogens.
世界上的热带雨林拥有无数的药物发现潜力。与来自温带地区的植物相比，人们认为热带雨林植物含有更多样化的进化防御性活性代谢物。近年来，制药公司对新型抗菌剂的兴趣和整体产出都有所减少，而此时正是需要它们来对抗耐药性威胁的时候。在这项研究中，我们研究了来自 16 个不同科的 21 种开花植物对 6 种细菌菌株的抗菌特性，其中包括两种革兰氏阴性菌和四种革兰氏阳性菌。使用倾注平板圆盘扩散技术，几乎所有这些植物的提取物都被发现对测试的一些细菌菌株具有活性。最有趣和最活跃的广谱活性植物包括 Duabanga grandiflora、Acalypha wilkesiana 和 Pseuduvaria macrophylla，对其进行了最小抑菌浓度、最小杀菌浓度和植物化学分析。这是首次报道描述 D. grandiflora 和 P. macrophylla 的抗菌和植物化学特性。我们的研究结果支持利用高等植物物种来寻找新的抗菌分子，以对抗新出现的传染病和耐药病原体的问题。
