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Ž . Fitoterapia 70 1999 428]431 Short report Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of Ramalina farinacea C.O. Esimone U , M.U. Adikwu Pharmaceutical Microbiology Unit, Department of Pharmaceutics, Uni ¤ ersity of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Ž . Received 5 October 1998; accepted revised 2 March 1999 Abstract The water, ethanol, chloroform and n-hexane extracts of the lichen Ramalina farinacea have been evaluated for their phytochemical constituents, antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxic properties. Q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Ramalina farinacea; Antibacterial activity; Antifungal activity; Cytotoxicity Ž . Ž . Plant. Ramalina farinacea L. Ach. Ramalinaceae , a lichen collected from Palm tree trunks around Nsukka, Nigeria, in October 1997, and identified by Mr J.M.C. Ž . Ekekwe of the Botanical Garden, University of Nigeria, Nsukka UNN . Voucher specimen is deposited at the Herbarium of the Department of Pharmacognosy, UNN. Uses in traditional medicine. The aqueous extract of the plant has folkloric reputation for treating mental disorders. Tinctures have also been used for treat- Ž . wx ment of ringworm tinea 1. U Corresponding author. Fax: q234-42-770644 0367-326Xr99r$ - see front matter Q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S0367-326X 99 00054-4

Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of Ramalina farinacea

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Page 1: Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of Ramalina farinacea

Ž .Fitoterapia 70 1999 428]431

Short report

Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity ofRamalina farinacea

C.O. EsimoneU, M.U. AdikwuPharmaceutical Microbiology Unit, Department of Pharmaceutics, Uni ersity of Nigeria, Nsukka,

Nigeria

Ž .Received 5 October 1998; accepted revised 2 March 1999

Abstract

The water, ethanol, chloroform and n-hexane extracts of the lichen Ramalina farinacea havebeen evaluated for their phytochemical constituents, antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxicproperties. Q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ramalina farinacea; Antibacterial activity; Antifungal activity; Cytotoxicity

Ž . Ž .Plant. Ramalina farinacea L. Ach. Ramalinaceae , a lichen collected from Palmtree trunks around Nsukka, Nigeria, in October 1997, and identified by Mr J.M.C.

Ž .Ekekwe of the Botanical Garden, University of Nigeria, Nsukka UNN . Voucherspecimen is deposited at the Herbarium of the Department of Pharmacognosy,UNN.

Uses in traditional medicine. The aqueous extract of the plant has folkloricreputation for treating mental disorders. Tinctures have also been used for treat-

Ž . w xment of ringworm tinea 1 .

U Corresponding author. Fax: q234-42-770644

0367-326Xr99r$ - see front matter Q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.Ž .PII: S 0 3 6 7 - 3 2 6 X 9 9 0 0 0 5 4 - 4

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( )C.O. Esimone, M.U. Adikwu r Fitoterapia 70 1999 428]431 429

Ž .Previously isolated classes of constituents. Dibenzofuran derivatives usnic acidw x w x w x w x2]4 depsidones 2,3 , depsides 4 , carbohydrates 5 .

Ž . Ž . Ž . Ž .Tested material. EtOH 16.3% , CHCl 12.6 , n-hexane 2.3 and water 1.43w xextracts. Results of phytochemical screening 6 are presented in Table 1.

Table 1Phytochemical screening of R. farinacea extracts

Extract Depsides Depsidones Anthracene Proteins Carbohydrates Saponins Starchglycosides

EtOH qqq qqq qq qq qq qq yCHCl qq qq q q q q y3n-Hexane q q q y y y yWater y y y q qqq qq y

ys Not detected; qs traces; qq s high concentration; qqq s very high concentration.

Table 2Antibacterial and antifungal activity of R. farinacea extracts

Ž .Test organism Inhibition zone mm

EtOH CHCl n-Hexane Water Standard3

Bacteria TetracyclineStaphylococcus aureus 31 28 30 18 15ATCC 13709Bacillus subtilis 24 21 22 11 18Escherichia coli ATCC 17 9 18 ] 89637Salmonella typhi 28 21 24 ] 9Pseudomonas aeruginosa 21 21 20 ] 2

Fungi ClotrimazoleCandida albicans 24 18 20 ] 28Aspergillus niger 22 16 20 ] 18Trichophyton rubrum 23 20 23 ] 20Trichophyton mentagrophytes 25 22 22 ] 21

Tests were done in triplicate. Tested concentrations: extracts s 4 mgrdisc; tetracycline s 50mgrdisc; clotrimazole s 20 mgrdisc. ]s no inhibition.

.Studied activity and used organisms. a Antifungal and antibacterial activity byw x Ž .disc diffusion technique 7 and minimum inhibitory concentration MIC determi-

w xnation using the agar diffusion technique 8 . Used microorganisms are listed in. w xTables 2 and 3. b Cytotoxicity evaluated by the brine shrimp lethality bioassay 9 .

ŽBrine shrimp, Artemia salina eggs were added to natural seawater obtained from

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Table 3Ž .Minimum inhibitory concentration MIC of R. farinacea extracts against some bacteria and fungi

Ž .Microorganisms MIC mgrml

Extracts Standard

EtOH CHCl n-Hexane Tetracycline Clotrimazole3

Staphylococcus aureus 200.62 251.19 125.89 44.00 NTBacillus subtilis 159.00 119.53 281.34 39.04 NTPseudomonas aeruginosa 641.81 616.60 316.23 98.20 NTSalmonella typhi 213.96 398.11 245.47 68.10 NTCandida albicans 189.92 177.83 199.53 NT 12.88Trichophyton rubrum 161.64 158.49 158.49 NT 9.55Trichophyton mentagrophytes 190.66 302.00 97.72 NT 8.32

NT s Not tested.

Table 4Cytotoxicity of R. farinacea extracts

Ž .Extract LC mgrml 95% Confidence limits50

EtOH 6.0 0.8]9.3CHCl 16.8 11.9]26.33n-Hexane 11.3 6.4]15.2Water 206.9 91.5]389.2

.the Atlantic Ocean at Bar Beach, Lagos, Nigeria and allowed to incubate for 48 hŽ .at 288C. After incubation, 10 brine shrimp larvae nauplii were introduced into

Ž .vials containing graded concentrations ranging from 10 to 1000 mgrml of testextract. After 24 h, the number of surviving shrimps at each concentration of theextract was counted and the data analysed with Finney Computer programme todetermine the LC at 95% confidence interval.50

ŽResults. Reported in Tables 2 and 3 antifungal and antibacterial activity, respec-. Ž .tively and Table 4 cytotoxicity .

Conclusions. All the tested extracts showed antibacterial, antifungal and cytotoxicproperties, bioactivity being in the order EtOH ) n-hexane ) CHCl ) water3extract.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the assistance of Mr Kalu Ogboso of the Pharmaceuti-cal Microbiology Unit, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Drs A. Anagbo and C.

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Njoku of the Department of Verterinary Pharmacology, University of Nigeria,Nsukka.

References

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