Department of Allied Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia.
Trop Biomed. 2021 Sep 1;38(3):469-475. doi: 10.47665/tb.38.3.090.
Medicinal plants are a potential source of new antifungal agents to combat the development of drug-resistant fungi. This study aims to investigate the aerial parts of Alternanthera sessilis (Amaranthaceae) and Ipomoea aquatica (Convolvulaceae), and the leaves of Catunaregam spinosa (Rubiaceae) and Tradescantia spathacea (Commelinaceae) for antifungal activity and cytotoxicity. The plant materials were extracted sequentially using hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol, and distilled water. The antifungal activity was evaluated against four species of yeasts and two species of filamentous fungi using a colorimetric broth microdilution method. The toxicity of the extracts was assessed using African monkey kidney epithelial (Vero) cells. All 24 extracts from the four medicinal plants showed inhibitory activity against all fungal species, except Aspergillus fumigatus, with a minimum inhibitory concentration range of 0.04-2.50 mg/mL. The antifungal activity of these plants was more prominent on the yeasts than the filamentous fungi. Generally, the less polar extracts (hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate) of the plants had stronger antifungal activity than the more polar extracts (ethanol, methanol, and water). In contrast, toxicity assessment revealed that the less polar extracts showed relatively higher toxicity towards the Vero cells than the more polar extracts. The lowest median cytotoxic concentration was shown by the chloroform extract of A. sessilis (17.4 ± 0.4 μg/mL). All water extracts, the methanol extract of I. aquatica, and the ethyl acetate, ethanol, and methanol extracts of T. spathacea did not show significant toxicity (P>0.05) towards the Vero cells. The results suggested that Tradescantia spathacea has the most promising potential for pharmaceutical developments due to its broad spectrum and selective activity against human fungal pathogens.
药用植物是寻找新抗真菌剂以对抗耐药真菌发展的潜在来源。本研究旨在研究Alternanthera sessilis（苋科）和Ipomoea aquatica（旋花科）的地上部分以及Catunaregam spinosa（茜草科）和Tradescantia spathacea（鸭跖草科）的叶子的抗真菌活性和细胞毒性。使用正己烷、氯仿、乙酸乙酯、乙醇、甲醇和蒸馏水依次提取植物材料。使用比色法肉汤微量稀释法评估抗真菌活性，以四种酵母和两种丝状真菌为对象。使用非洲绿猴肾上皮（Vero）细胞评估提取物的毒性。四种药用植物的 24 种提取物均显示对所有真菌物种（除烟曲霉外）均有抑制活性，最低抑菌浓度范围为 0.04-2.50mg/ml。这些植物的抗真菌活性对酵母比丝状真菌更为明显。一般来说，植物的疏水性提取物（正己烷、氯仿和乙酸乙酯）比亲水性提取物（乙醇、甲醇和水）具有更强的抗真菌活性。相比之下，毒性评估显示疏水性提取物对 Vero 细胞的毒性相对高于亲水性提取物。A. sessilis 的氯仿提取物显示出最低的中位细胞毒性浓度（17.4±0.4μg/ml）。所有水提取物、I. aquatica 的甲醇提取物以及 T. spathacea 的乙酸乙酯、乙醇和甲醇提取物对 Vero 细胞均无明显毒性（P>0.05）。结果表明，由于其对人类真菌病原体具有广谱和选择性活性，Tradescantia spathacea 具有最有前途的药物开发潜力。
