The essential oil from the leaves of Tagetes minuta L., growing wild in Yemen, was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A total of 28 compounds were identified representing 74.2% of total oil composition. Major components of the essential oil were (Z)-ocimenone (15.9%), (E)-ocimenone (34.8%), (Z)-β-ocimene (8.3%), limonene (2.3%), (Z)-tagetone (1.8%), dihydrotagetone (1.4%) and an unidentified dimethylvinylketone derivative (20.6%). The oil showed moderate cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 breast tumor cells, with an IC 50 of 54.7  6.2 μg/mL. In the DPPH radical scavenging assay, T. minuta oil showed potent antiradical activity with an IC 50 value of 36 µg/mL. Antimicrobial activity was also investigated on several microorganisms, and the essential oil exhibited high activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with an inhibition zone of 23 mm. It also exhibited remarkable antifungal activity against Candida albicans with an inhibition zone of 26 mm.

Sixteen methanolic extracts obtained from thirteen plant species, selected either from ethnobotanical or chemotaxonomical data, were screened for their antileishmanial activity against Leishmania amazonensis. The cytotoxic activity against normal peritoneal macrophages from normal BALB/c mice was also determined. Eight extracts had IC50 values ranging from <12.5 to 37.8 µg/mL against promastigotes. Achillea biebersteinii flower, Euphorbia helioscopia, and Solanum incanum leaf extracts showed antileishmanial activities with IC50 between <12.5–26.9 µg/mL and acceptable selectivity indices of 8–5. The other leishmanicidal plant extracts, with IC50 ranging from 18.0 to 29.5 µg/mL, exhibited low selectivity indices.

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Abstract:Medicinal plants are the wealthy source of antibacterial agents and curatives. There is an urgent need for new antimicrobial agents, so the antimicrobial activity for Ruta graveolens L. and Ficus carica Linn. Crude extracts were evaluated for its inhibitory activity against some disease causing selected microorganisms. Root extract of Ruta graveolens L gave 8 and 7 mm inhibition zone against Escherichia coli 254607 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 254992 respectively. Latex of Ficus carica Linn plants showed that it is a good inhibitor for Candida albicans 254625; whereas the rest of microorganisms (Escherichia coli 254607, Proteus mirabilis 257440, Microsporium canis, Staphylococcus aureus 254996, Klebsiella pneumoniae 254656 and Staphylococcus epidermidis 254997) gave almost a similar inhibition zone around 2-3 mm. The tested crude extract from Ruta graveolens L. and Ficus carica Linn. have proved to be promising treating agents against the tested pathogenic microbes, but it needs to be concentrated and furthermore evaluated.