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Chemical constituents and antibacterial activity from the fruits of Ficus sur Forssk


Faustine L. M. Dongmo
Gabriel T. Kamsu
Arno R. D. Nanfack
Blanche L. Ndontsa
Rabia Farooq
Gabin T. M. Bitchagno
Atia-tul-Waha
Mathieu Tene

Abstract

Background: Ficus sur Forssk is used in traditional African medicine in the treatment of skin diseases, epilepsy, jaundice, pain, inflammation, anemia, sexually transmitted diseases, and diarrhea. We described here the chemical study and antibacterial properties of F. sur ethanol extract.
Methods: Separation and isolation of compounds were performed using common chromatographic methods. The structures of compounds were determined by spectrometric and spectroscopic analyses including MS and NMR data and comparison with reported ones in the literature. The microdilution method was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the isolated compounds, fractions, and crude EtOH extract against five multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria.
Results: Ten known compounds (1-10) were isolated including six pentacyclic triterpenoids (1-6) and four steroid derivatives (7-10) including 11-oxo-β-amyrin acetate (1), olean-12-en-3-one (2) β-amyrin palmitate (3), β-amyrin (4), β-amyrin acetate (5), lupeol acetate (6), ergosterol peroxide (7), (22R)-3β-stigmast-5-ene-3,22-diol (8), β-sitosterol (9) and β-sitosterol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (10). The chemophenetic significance of the isolated compounds was discussed. The crude extract exhibited the lowest minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value on Salmonella typhi 001 (MIC = 64 μg/mL). Fractions FA and FB showed antibacterial activity against all the tested microorganisms with MIC ranging from 16 to 512 μg/mL. Fraction A showed the highest activity with the least MIC of 16 μg/mL on Escherichia coli 009 while the most active among isolated compounds were β-amyrin palmitate (3) against Salmonella typhi (MIC = 32 μg/mL) and β-amyrin acetate (5) against Escherichia coli 001 and Klebsiella pneumoniae 008 (MIC = 64 μg/mL). This work reports the antibacterial activity of the crude ethanol extract, fractions, and isolated compounds from the selected plant.
Conclusion: The research work presented here shows that Ficus sur Forssk fruits possess compounds that could be valued in the treatment of bacterial diseases. These results support the traditional uses of this plant for the treatment of some bacterial diseases happening in Cameroon.


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2617-0027
print ISSN: 2617-0019