Fitoterapia 73 (2002) 698–700
Short report
Antimicrobial activity of Pithecolobium avaremotemo bark ´ P.A. de Sa´ Peixoto Neto, N.V.C. Campos, C.W.G. de Araujo, ´ Z. Porfırio, L.C. Caetano* ´ Departamento de Quımica, CCEN, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, 57072.970, Maceio´ AL, Brazil Received 7 June 2002; accepted 31 July 2002
Abstract The Pithecolobium avaremotemo bark methanolic extract exhibited a broad spectrum and high levels of antimicrobial activity. 䊚 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Pithecolobium avaremotemo; Antimicrobial activity
Plant. Pithecolobium avaremotemo Mart. (Leguminosae), bark harvested in May ˆ 2000 in the city of Maceio-AL, Brazil, and identified by Dra. Rosangela Pereira de Lira Lemos (IMA-AL). A voucher specimen is preserved at IMA-AL under the label MAC-8830.
Uses in traditional medicine. The tea of the bark as anti-inflammatory, antileucorreas, anti-ulcerogenic and for cicatrization.
Previously isolated classes of constituents. Triterpenoids and catechins w1x. *Corresponding author. E-mail address:
[email protected] (L.C. Caetano). 0367-326X/02/$ - see front matter 䊚 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 6 7 - 3 2 6 X Ž 0 2 . 0 0 2 3 4 - 4
´ et al. / Fitoterapia 73 (2002) 698–700 C.W.G. de Araujo
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Table 1 Antimicrobial activity of the methanol extract of Pithecolobium avaremotemo bark Microorganisms
Inhibition zone (mm)* P. avaremotemo (50 mgyml)
Ceftriaxon (30 mgyml)
Bacteria Staphylococcus aureus Escherichia coli Klebsiella pneumoniae Klebsiella ozaenal Enterococcus faecalis Pseudomonas aeruginosa Bac 5 P. aeruginosa Bac 45 P. aeruginosa Bac 3**
18 18 16 20 14 14 14 12
28 20 20 20 25 20 0 0
Fungi Candida albicans Candida tropicalis
20 0
Ketoconazole (80 mgyml) – – – – – – – –
– –
S*** S***
Control (MeOH 33%) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
*
Values are the mean of three replicates. 40 ml of solution was applied to each well. This strain has shown resistance to amicacin; ampicillin; ceftazidime; sulfonamides; ceftriaxon; ceftaxin; ciprofloxacin; cephalotin; cefepim; cephoxitin. *** Sensible. **
Tested material. MeOH extract prepared at room temperature (yield 3%). Studied activity. Antimicrobial activity by agar-well diffusion method w2x.
´ Used microrganisms. All microorganisms used were obtained from the Laboratorio ´ ˆ ´ ¸ ˜ Universitaria de Microbiologia da Fundacao de Ciencias da Saude de Alagoas, ´ Maceio-AL, Brazil.
Results. Listed in Table 1.
Conclusions. The P. avaremotemo bark methanolic extract (5% in solution) exhibited a pronounced antimicrobial activity, even against multiresistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms. Acknowledgments ˆ The authors are grateful to Prof. Dra. Rosangela Pereira de Lira Lemos (IMAAL) for the identification of the plant, and to the Brazilian Research Councils (CNPq, CAPES and FAPEAL) for the financial support.
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´ et al. / Fitoterapia 73 (2002) 698–700 C.W.G. de Araujo
References w1x Mendonca ´ ¸ RPC. MSc Dissertation. Estudo da atividade biologica do Pithecolobium avaremotemo ´ Mart. e de alguns compostos obtidos comercialmente. Departamento de Quımica-CCEN-Univer´ sidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceio-AL, Brazil. 2000:98. w2x Russel AD, Furr JR. J Appl Bacteriol 1997;43:253.
