title: Selected ethno-medicinal plants from Kenya with in vitro activity against major African livestock pathogens belonging to the "Mycoplasma mycoides cluster".
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Members of 'Mycoplasma mycoides cluster' are important ruminant pathogens in Africa. Diseases caused by these Mycoplasma negatively affect the agricultural sector especially in developing countries through losses in livestock productivity, mortality and international trade restrictions. There is therefore urgent need to develop antimicrobials from alternative sources such as medicinal plants to curb these diseases. In Kenya, smallholder farmers belonging to the Maasai, Kuria and Luo rely on traditional Kenyan herbals to treat respiratory symptoms in ruminants. In the current study extracts from some of these plants were tested against the growth of members of Mycoplasma mycoides cluster.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed at identifying plants that exhibit antimycoplasmal activities using an ethnobotanical approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Kenyan farmers of Maasai, Luo and Kuria ethnic groups were interviewed for plant remedies given to livestock with respiratory syndromes. The plant materials were thereafter collected and crude extracts prepared using a mixture of 50% of methanol (MeOH) in dichloromethane (CH2Cl2), neat methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH) and water to yield four crude extracts per plant part. The extracts were tested in vitro against five strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri, five strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides and one strain of Mycoplasma capricolum subsp capricolum using broth micro-dilution assays with an initial concentration of 1mg/ml. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the most active extracts were determined by serial dilution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Extracts from five plants namely: Solanum aculeastrum, Albizia coriaria, Ekebergia capensis, Piliostigma thonningii and Euclea divinorum exhibited the highest activities against the Mycoplasma strains tested. Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides were more susceptible to these extracts than Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri and Mycoplasma capricolum susp. capricolum. The activities of the crude extracts varied with the solvent used for extraction. The MICs mean values of the active extracts varied from 0.02 to 0.6mg/ml.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggested that these plants could potentially contain antimicrobial compounds that might be useful for the treatment of respiratory diseases in ruminants. Future work should focus on the isolation and identification of the active compounds from the plant extracts that showed interesting activities and evaluation of their antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, Kenya; Biosciences Eastern & Central Africa - International Livestock Research Institute, Old Naivasha Road, PO Box 30709, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: franciscayeye@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Francisca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kama-Kama
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Midiwo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nganga
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maina
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Eastern & Central Africa - International Livestock Research Institute, Old Naivasha Road, PO Box 30709, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Elise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schiek
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Leonidah Kerubo
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Omosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Osanjo
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Eastern & Central Africa - International Livestock Research Institute, Old Naivasha Road, PO Box 30709, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: jnaessens@ymail.com.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Naessens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019448:Ethnobotany; D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D000067565:Farmers; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007630:Kenya; D058751:Livestock / Q000382:microbiology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009176:Mycoplasma mycoides / Q000187:drug effects*; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000662:veterinary; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D011002:Pleuropneumonia, Contagious / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D019155:Veterinary Drugs / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents; D019155:Veterinary Drugs
keywords: Antimicrobial activity; Ethno-medicinal from plants from Kenya; Ethnobotany; Livestock; Mycoplasma mycoides