Selective Growth Inhibitor toward Human Intestinal Bacteria Derived from Pulsatilla cernua Root

Abstract

Among 21 medicinal plants, the growth-inhibiting activity of Pulsatilla cernua root-derived materials toward human intestinal bacteria was examined by using an impregnated paper disk method. The biologically active components of P. cernua roots were characterized as 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid and 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid by spectroscopic analysis. The activity was compared with that of six commercially available cinnamic acid derivatives trans-cinnamaldehyde, trans-cinnamic acid, cinnamyl alcohol, 2-methoxycinnamic acid, 3-methoxycinnamic acid, and 4-methoxycinnamic acid. The growth responses varied with each bacterial strain tested. Two isolated compounds revealed a potent inhibition against Clostridium perfringens, and moderate to weak activity against Escherichia coli was exhibited by 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid. Weak or no inhibitory activity was obtained against the bifidobacteria or Lactobacillus acidophilus. The inhibitory effect was much more pronounced in C. perfringens and E. coli as compared to B. adolescentis, B. bifidum, B. fragilis, B. longum, or L. acidophilus. Cinnamaldehyde exhibited a strong growth-inhibiting activity, but no inhibition was observed from treatments with trans-cinnamic acid, cinnamyl alcohol, 2-methoxycinnamic acid, 3-methoxycinnamic acid, and 4-methoxycinnamic acid. These results may be an indication of at least one of the pharmacological actions of P. cernua root.

Anti-inflammatory and Antimicrobial Effects of Heat-clearing Chinese Herbs: A Current Review

“…[56] Moreover, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid of Pulsatilla Radix is found to have a selective growth inhibitor of the human intestinal bacteria, Clostridium perfringens and E. coli. [57]…”

Somatic embryogenesis and shoot organogenesis in the medicinal plant Pulsatilla koreana Nakai

“…The rhizomes of P. koreana have been used in traditional Korean medicine to treat amoebic dysentery (Bae 1999), malaria, and internal hemorrhoids (Ye et al 1996). Furthermore, extracts of Pulsatilla species contain many bioactive compounds, including antimicrobial cinnamic acid derivatives (Lee et al 2001), anemonin, cytotoxic hederagenin, oleanolic saponins, lupane-type saponins (Mimaki et al 1999;Bang et al 2005a, b), and the anti-acne compounds pulsaquinone and hydropulsaquinone (Cho et al 2009). In addition, Pulsatilla shows excellent activity against plant pathogens, including wheat Fusarium graminearum and rice Xanthomonas oryzae pv.…”

Bio‐assay Guided Isolation of α‐Glucosidase Inhibitory Constituents from Hibiscus Mutabilis Leaves

“…The active fractions were further purified with semi‐preparative HPLC (XTerra T M Prep RP C 18 , 7.8 × 300 mm, 10 µm particle size) and elution was carried out using methanol:water:acetic acid (34:65:1 v/v/v) at a flow rate of 2.5 mL/min, monitoring the eluate at 254 nm. Collection of the major peak from these fractions and evaporation under reduced pressure yielded two amorphous solids, which were characterised as ferulic acid (from FR‐6‐4) and caffeic acid (from Fr‐6‐7) by comparison of their spectroscopic data (mass, 1 H‐ and 13 C‐NMR) with those reported previously (Lee et al ., ; Tan et al ., ).…”