Isolation And Characterization of Bioactive Ingredients From The Root of CISSAMPELOS OWARIENSIS

ABSTRACT 

The investigations of Cissampe/os owariensis have largely been driven by the desire to find new drugs or new drug leads. The studies were carried out to confirm the traditional medicinal uses of the plant C. owariensis, and to identify the chemical constituents responsible for the activity. The ethnomedicinal uses of the plant include whooping cough, wound, irregular menstrual cycle, typhoid and malaria fevers. Phytochemical screening of the roots extracts revealed the presence of sterols, resins, balsams, flavonoids, glycosides and alkaloids. Further chemical studies resulted in the isolation of five compounds, namely; 2H cyclopropa(a)naphthalen-2- one, 1, 1a, 4,5, 6,7,7a,7b-octahydro-1 , 1,7, 7a-tetramethyl, 11- octadecenoic acid methylester, 5(1 H)-azulenone-2,4,6,7,8,8ahexahydro-3, 8-dimethyl-4-( 1-methylethylidene ), bis(2- methoxyethyl)phthalate and an unidentified compound. The agar diffusion and agar dilution methods were used to confirm the antimicrobial properties of the extracts against some microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis Klebsiella salmonella typhi and Candida albicans. Among the isolates EF 4_3 containing un-identified Xlll compounds was generally active against the micro-organisms at MIC 850µg/ml while EF2_1 containing (5(1H)-azulenone-2,4,6,7,8,8ahexahydro-3,8-dimethyl-4-(1-methylethylidene ), showed the greatest activity against C. albicans at MIC 625µg/ml. Studies on the antiviral activity of the ethanolic extract was carried out on polio virus (nonenveloped RNA) and a measles virus (enveloped DNA) using two cell lines, L20B and 895, respectively. An inhibition of the measles virus at none toxicity dose of 80mg/ml was observed while there was no inhibitory effect on the polio virus.The results confirm Cissampe/os owariensis as a potential source of antimicrobial and antiviral agents, particularly for measles and C. albicans infections.