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Cryptolepine hydrochloride: a potent antimycobacterial alkaloid derived from Cryptolepis sanguinolenta
Author(s) -
Gibbons Simon,
Fallah Fatemeh,
Wright Colin W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
phytotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1573
pISSN - 0951-418X
DOI - 10.1002/ptr.1284
Subject(s) - antimycobacterial , alkaloid , traditional medicine , minimum inhibitory concentration , biology , pharmacognosy , antibiotics , microbiology and biotechnology , mycobacterium tuberculosis , medicine , tuberculosis , pharmacology , biological activity , botany , in vitro , biochemistry , pathology
The activity of cryptolepine hydrochloride, a salt of the main indoloquinoline alkaloid from the West African medicinal plant Cryptolepis sanguinolenta , was assessed against the fast growing mycobacterial species Mycobacterium fortuitum , which has recently been shown to be of use in the evaluation of antitubercular drugs. The low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of this compound (16 µg/mL) prompted further evaluation against other fast growing mycobacteria namely, M. phlei , M. aurum , M. smegmatis , M. bovis BCG and M. abcessus and the MICs ranged over 2–32 µg/mL for these species. The strong activity of this agent, the need for new antibiotics with activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis , coupled with the ethnobotanical use of C. sanguinolenta extracts to treat infections, highlight the potential of the cryptolepine template for development of antimycobacterial agents. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.