BACKGROUND

Five plants used in traditional medicine in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, have been investigated for anti-mycobacterial activity: Olea capensis, Tulbaghia alliacea, Dittrichia graveolens, Leysera gnaphalodes and Buddleja saligna.

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to assess antimycobacterial activity in plants used in treatment of symptoms of TB, and through activity-guided fractionation of extracts to isolate compounds or mixtures with potential as anti-TB drug leads.

METHODS

Extracts and derived fractions were assayed against strains of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Mycobacterium aurum A+. Isolated pure compounds were further tested against Mycobacterium species M. avium ATCC 25291, M. scrofulaceum ATCC 19981, M. microti ATCC 19422 and Mtb H37Rv, and for cytotoxicity against Chinese hamster ovarian cells.

RESULTS

Extracts of B. saligna and L. gnaphaloides exhibited significant anti-mycobacterial activity, primarily associated with the presence of non-cytotoxic triterpenoids oleanolic acid in B. saligna and both oleanolic and ursolic acids in L. gnaphaloides.

CONCLUSIONS

Anti-mycobacterial activity of extracts of selected plants is consistent with their traditional use. The identification of oleanolic and ursolic acids in these plants, and verification of their activity, underlines the potential for exploring structure-activity relationships of derivatives of these ubiquitous triterpenoids.