Endophytic fungi reside in the intercellular space of plant nourished by the plant. In return, they provide bioactive molecules which can play critical roles on plant defense system. Fifty six endophytes were isolated from the leaves, root, bark and fruits of Sonneratia apetala, a pioneer mangrove plant in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. A total of 56 isolates were obtained and 12 different species within 8 genera were identified using morphological and molecular characteristics. Antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and methanolic (MeOH) extracts of these 12 different species were analyzed by resazurin assay and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined. The fungal extracts showed antimicrobial activities against more than one tested bacterium or fungus among 5 human pathogenic microbes, i.e. Escherichia coli NCTC 12241, Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 12981, Micrococcus lutus NCTC 7508, Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCTC 7508 and Candida albicans ATCC 90028. Overall, methanolic extracts showed greater activity than that of ethyl acetate extracts. Of the isolates identified, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium equiseti were the most active isolates and showed activity against microorganisms under investigation. Methanolic extracts of C. gloeosporioides and A. niger showed the lowest MIC (0.0024 mg/mL) against P. aeruginosa. The study indicates that endophytic fungi isolated from S. apetala species possess potential antimicrobial properties, which could be further investigated.

Mangrove plants are specialised plants that grow in the tidal coasts of tropic and subtropic regions of the world. Their unique ecology and traditional medicinal uses of mangrove plants have attracted the attention of researchers over the years, and as a result, reports on biological activity of mangrove plants have increased significantly in recent years. This review has been set out to compile and appraise the results on antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity of mangrove plants. While the Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, and PubMed were the starting points to gather information, other pieces of relevant published literature were also adequately explored for this purpose. A total of 29 reports on 17 plant species have been found to report such activities. While 19 reports were on the biological activity of the crude extracts, 10 reports identified the active compound(s) of various chemical classes of natural products including terpenes, steroids, and flavonoids. This review finds that antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity appears to be widespread in mangrove plants.

A mangrove medicinal plant Cynometra ramiflora (Family: Leguminosae) was selected to investigate the bioactivities namely antioxidant, antimicrobial and preliminary cytotoxic activity using methanol and chloroform extracts of the leaves and stems, respectively. In 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the methanolic stem extract was found to be 31.62 µg.mL-1. Reducing power of the same extract demonstrated consistent increase in a concentration-dependent manner and was comparable with quercetin while ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay revealed potential total antioxidant capacity (84.0 mM Fe (II)/g of extract). In addition, the presence of total phenolics (96.2 mg GAE/g of extract), total flavonoids (166.4 mg QE/g of extract) and tannins content (80.4 mg GAE/g of extract) were determined in the methanolic stem extract. The chloroformic stem extract exhibited moderate antimicrobial activity against a number of bacterial strains while the MIC values of extracts were in the range from 62.5 to 500µg.mL-1. The methanolic stem and leaf extracts demonstrated strong lethality in preliminary cytotoxicity assay using brine shrimp nauplii where the 50% lethal concentration (LC50) values were 1.596 and 4.613 µg.mL-1 respectively. It can be therefore concluded that the methanolic extracts of C. ramiflora possess potential antioxidant, antimicrobial and strong preliminary cytotoxic activity and could be further exploited for prospective scientific exploration towards bioactive principles.

BackgroundRecent epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that cadmium and diabetes-related hyperglycemia may act synergistically to worsen metabolic regulation. The present study aims to evaluate the potential effects of Enhydra fluctuans extract in diabetes and dyslipidemia in cadmium (CdCl2) induced- normal and type 2 diabetic model rats.MethodForty-eight Long-Evans rats were divided equally into the following six groups: Normal Control (N-C), Normal treated with CdCl2 (N-Cd), Normal treated with plant extract (N-P), Normal treated with both plant extract and CdCl2 (N-PCd), Diabetic treated with plant extract (DM-P) and Diabetic treated with both plant extract and CdCl2 (DM-PCd). Blood glucose and other biochemical parameters were estimated by the enzymatic colorimetric method. Histological analysis of liver and heart was done by the hematoxylin-eosin (H & E) method.ResultsTwenty-one days treatment of E. fluctuans extracts at a dose of 200 mg/kg significantly reduced blood glucose level in N-PCd and DM-PCd (p < 0.05), and DM-P (p < 0.01) group. The plant extract had no direct effects on total blood lipids but, it had beneficial effects on TG/HDL-C ratio in N-P and DM-PCd groups (p < 0.05). Cd induction significantly reduced body weight [(N-Cd, N-PCd, DM-PCd) (p < 0.01)], and induced liver [N-Cd (p < 0.05), N-PCd, p < 0.001] and renal impairment [N-Cd (p < 0.05)]. In bi-variate association, a significant positive correlation between serum glucose and SGPT (p < 0.05) as well as SGPT and TG/HDL ratio (p = 0.019) was found in DM-P and in the merged group. The histology of liver and heart showed severe damages including inflammation, nuclear pyknosis, loss of myocardial fibers, necrosis and fibrosis in the Cd treated groups compared to plant treated groups.ConclusionE. fluctuans seems to have potent antihyperglycemic effects in diabetes and Cd toxicity along with partial antidyslipidemic properties in euglycemic and diabetic rats. Our study suggests a novel oral antihyperglycemic agent in the present environmental context.

No abstract