Indigenous medicinal plant of Ethiopia has been applied for the first time to investigate the synergistic influence of phytoconstituents in green copper nanoparticles (g-Cu NPs) towards the enhancement of antimicrobial properties of NPs. We report the green synthesis of Cu NPs using Hagenia abyssinica (Brace) JF. Gmel. leaf extract. The synthesized g-Cu NPs were characterized by UV-visible, UV-DRS, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDXA, TEM, HRTEM, and SAED techniques. The maximum absorbance, λmax, was found to be 403 nm for g-Cu NPs due to surface plasmon resonance. The energy gap, Eg of NPs, was found to be 2.19 eV. FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of polyphenols, tannins, and glycosides in the leaf extract of Hagenia abyssinica. The spectral band at 740 cm-1 is a characteristic of interaction between Cu and biomolecules of the extract. The XRD analysis revealed that the g-Cu NPs appears to be more crystalline in nature. SEM and TEM micrographs showed a mix of spherical, hexagonal, triangular, cylindrical, and irregularly shaped Cu particles. The average particle size of NPs was found to be 34.76 nm by ImageJ analysis. EDX analysis confirmed the presence of copper in the g-Cu NPs. In addition, the SAED pattern of g-Cu NPs presented concentric circular patterns for 4 major planes of crystalline copper and its oxides. The experimental and calculated d-spacing values of one of the crystal planes (111) were found to be 0.2432 nm and 0.2444 nm, respectively. The d-spacing values of 0.2444 nm and 0.2040 nm correspond to d111Cu2O and d111Cu lattice fringes, respectively. The antibacterial test conducted on E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis showed good zone of inhibitions 12.7, 12.7, 14.7, and 14.2 mm, respectively, proving potentiality of g-Cu NPs as a remedy for infectious diseases caused by tested pathogens.

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This study aimed to document information on the use, conservation and threats to medicinal plants in Cheha district, Guraghe Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Thirty informants were randomly selected from four kebeles. Of which, 10 key informants were selected purposively by criteria of age, gender and indigenous knowledge. Ethnobotanical data was collected through semi-structured interview, guided field observation and group discussion. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics and expressed with frequency distribution, percentage and flow charts. A total of 58 medicinal plant species (17 wild, 38 home garden and 3 species from both) were recorded and a total of 37, 3 and 18 species were reported as being used to treat human, livestock and both ailments, respectively. The major habit of the medicinal plants were herbs (58.62%) followed by trees (24.13%), shrubs (10.34%), and climbers (6.89%). The most frequently harvested plant parts were leaves (36.20%) followed by seed (13.79%), fruit (12.06%) and others. Most of the remedies are prepared from single plant with various preparation methods and administered via oral, dermal, topical and nasal method. The major threats to medicinal plants in the study area are agricultural expansion, deforestation, firewood and charcoal production and over utilization, respectively. The data analysis result reveals that the community is better experiencing ex-situ conservation indigenously, but to ensure sustainability of medicinal plants; more emphasis should be given to the traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge and skill of herbalists must be encouraged, documented and supported with scientific approaches.

The study and entire laboratory works were conducted

Background Cucumis prophetarum is traditionally used to treat liver and lung disorders, heart failure, diarrhea, gonorrhea, skin infections, intestinal problems and cancer. In the present work, the isolation of two novel compounds along with their antibacterial and antioxidant activities is reported for the first time. Methods Silica gel column chromatography was applied to separate constituents of the roots of C. prophetarum. The structures of isolated compounds were established using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, DEPT-135, COSY, HSQC and HMBC. Agar well diffusion, DPPH assay and ferric thiocyante methods were used for antibacterial, radical scavenging and anti-lipid peroxidation activities, respectively. AutoDock Vina open source program was used for molecular docking analysis. Results Evaluation of the in vitro antibacterial activity of the constituents against S. aureus, B. subtilis, E. coli and S. thyphimurium revealed that the hexane extract were active against E. coli with IZ of 15.0 ± 1.41 mm, whereas an IZ of 14.6 ± 1.70 mm for MeOH extract was observed against S. aureus. Compound 1 displayed IZ of 13.6 ± 0.94 mm against E. coli and curcurbiatin 2 showed activity against B. subtilis with IZ of 13.3 ± 0.54 mm. The molecular docking analysis showed that cucurbitacins 2 and 3 have binding energy of -6.7 and -6.9 kcal/mol, respectively. The methanol and the hexane extracts of the roots of C. prophetarum inhibited DPPH radical by 70.4 and 63.3% at 100 µg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, the methanol extract inhibited lipid peroxidation by 53.0%. Conclusion The present study identified five compounds from the root extracts of C. prophetarum, of which two are novel cucurbitacins (1, 2). The in vitro antibacterial activity of the hexane and methanol extracts was better than the activity displayed by the isolated compounds. This is probably due to the synergistic effects of the constituents present in the root extract. The in silico molecular docking study results showed that, compounds 2 and 3 have minimum binding energy and have good affinity toward the active pocket, thus, they may be considered as good inhibitor of DNA gyrase B. Furthermore, the “drug-likeness” and ADMET prediction of compounds 2–5 nearly showed compliance with the Lipinski rule, with good absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion generally. The radical scavenging and anti-lipid peroxidation activities of the extracts were better than the isolated compounds. This is attributed to the presence of phenolics and flavonoids as minor constituents in the extracts of these species. Therefore, the in vitro antibacterial activity and molecular docking analysis suggest the potential use of the isolated compounds as medicine which corroborates the traditional use of the roots of C. prophetarum.