title: Beninese Medicinal Plants as a Source of Antimycobacterial Agents: Bioguided Fractionation and In Vitro Activity of Alkaloids Isolated from Holarrhena floribunda Used in Traditional Treatment of Buruli Ulcer.
abstract: Buruli ulcer (BU) imposes a serious economic burden on affected households and on health systems that are involved in diagnosing the disease and treating patients. Research is needed to find cost-effective therapies for this costly disease. Plants have always been an important source of new pharmacologically active molecules. Consequently we decided to undertake the study of plants used in traditional treatment of BU in Benin and investigate their antimycobacterial activity as well as their chemical composition. Extracts from forty-four (44) plant species were selected on account of reported traditional uses for the treatment of BU in Benin and were assayed for antimycobacterial activities. Crude hydroethanolic extract from aerial parts of Holarrhena floribunda (G. Don) T. Durand and Schinz was found to have significant antimycobacterial activity against M. ulcerans (MIC = 125 µg/mL). We describe here the identification of four steroidal alkaloids from Mycobacterium ulcerans growth-inhibiting fractions of the alkaloidal extract of the aerial parts of Holarrhena floribunda. Holadysamine was purified in sufficient amount to allow the determination of its MCI (=50 µg/mL). These results give some support to the use of this plant in traditional medicine.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Pharmacie, Faculté des Sciences de la Santé (FSS), Université d'Abomey Calavi (UAC), 04 BP 494 Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: Achille
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yemoa
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie et des Huiles Essentielles (LAPHE), Faculté des Sciences de la Santé (FSS) and Faculté des Sciences et Techniques (FAST), Université d'Abomey Calavi (UAC), 01 BP 188 Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gbenou
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries (LRM), Centre National Hospitalier de Pneumo-Phtisiologie (CNHPP), 01 BP 817 Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: Dissou
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Affolabi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie et des Huiles Essentielles (LAPHE), Faculté des Sciences de la Santé (FSS) and Faculté des Sciences et Techniques (FAST), Université d'Abomey Calavi (UAC), 01 BP 188 Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: Mansourou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moudachirou
authors.affiliation: Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Pharmacie, Faculté des Sciences de la Santé (FSS), Université d'Abomey Calavi (UAC), 04 BP 494 Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bigot
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries (LRM), Centre National Hospitalier de Pneumo-Phtisiologie (CNHPP), 01 BP 817 Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: Séverin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anagonou
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine (IMT), Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Portaels
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anandi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Pharmacognosy Research Group, Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), B1 7203 Avenue E. Mounier 72, 1200 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: Joëlle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quetin-Leclercq
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D054312:Buruli Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy*; D035462:Holarrhena / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional; D019911:Mycobacterium ulcerans / Q000254:growth & development*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents