Screening of some New Caledonian and Vanuatu medicinal plants for antimycobacterial activity

• Published in: Journal of ethnopharmacology Vol. 96; no. 1; pp. 195 - 200
• Main Authors: Billo, M., Cabalion, P., Waikedre, J., Fourneau, C., Bouttier, S., Hocquemiller, R., Fournet, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-01-2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Amborella trichopoda tuberculosis; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Biological and medical sciences; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; essential oils; General pharmacology; Medical sciences; medicinal plants; Medicine, Traditional; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Mycobacterium bovis; Mycobacterium bovis - drug effects; Mycobacterium bovis BCG; New Caledonia; New Caledonian and Vanuatu medicinal plants; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; plant extracts; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; screening; symptoms; traditional medicine; tuberculosis; Vanuatu; Vanuatu; New Caledonia; Melanesia; Oceania; Mycobacterium bovis; New Caledonian and Vanuatu medicinal plants; Amborella trichopoda tuberculosis; Pharmacognosy; Mycobacterial infection; Screening test; Medicinal plant; Infection; Screening; Tuberculosis; Mycobacteriales; Plant origin; Bacteriosis; Mycobacteriaceae; Bacteria; Actinomycetes
• ISSN: 0378-8741; 1872-7573
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2004.09.008

Twenty plants, belonging to sixteen families, used in traditional New Caledonian and Vanuatu medicine for treatment of symptoms potentially related to tuberculosis (cough, fever or inflammation) were screened for antimycobacterial activity. We also screened an original endemic plant,
Amborella trichopoda, only member of the monogeneric family Amborellaceae and considered the most primitive living angiosperm. In total, 55 extracts were evaluated for inhibitory activity against
Mycobacterium bovis BCG strain at a concentration of 100
μg/ml. Methanolic and dichloromethane extracts of
Amborella trichopoda,
Codiaeum peltatum,
Myristica fatua, and essential oils
Myoporum crassifolium showed an activity at this concentration. Methanolic extract of
Amborella trichopoda fruits presented a significant activity with a minimal inhibitory concentration included between 1 and 2.5
μg/ml. In the same conditions, this activity was comparable with those of the reference drugs pyrazynamide and ethambutol, at 20 and 2.5
μg/ml, respectively.