Shimaa WO etR alL.D J O U R N A L O FWorld PHA JournalRMAC ofY Pharmacy AND PH andAR PharmaceuticalMACEUTIC SciencesAL SCIENCES SJIF Impac t Factor 5.210 Volume 4, Issue 05, 1720-1740. Research Article ISSN 2278 – 4357

ANTIPROTOZOAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF

SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANTS GROWING IN UPPER EGYPT, BENI-SUEF REGION

Shimaa Mohammed Abdel Gawad1, 2*, Mona Hafez Hetta1, Samir Anis Ross2 and Farid Abd El- Reheim Badria3

1Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef University, 62514, Egypt. 2National Center for Natural Products Research, and Department of Bio Molecular Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA. 3Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, 35516, Egypt.

Article Received on ABSTRACT 15 March 2015, Alcoholic extracts of fifty six plants cultivated in Beni-Suef

Revised on 06 April 2015, Governorate (Egypt) were screened in vitro for their antiprotozoal and Accepted on 27 April 2015 antimicrobial activities. Emblica officinalis, Quercus infectoria and

Punica granatum were the most active as antimalarial with IC50 4.92, *Correspondence for 2.51, 10.61µg/mL respectively against the chloroquine sensitive strain Author Shimaa Mohammed of Plasmodium falciparum and IC50 3.1, 2, 7.4µg/mL respectively Abdel Gawad against chloroquine resistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum. The Pharmacognosy extracts of Ricinus communi, Corchorus olitorius and Psidium guajava Department, Faculty of were the most active as antileishmanial and the percentage of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef inhibition were 91.4%, 90.9% and 90.3% respectively. The extract of University, 62514, Egypt. Emblica officinalis, Punica granatum, Quercus infectoria, Ricinus communi, Tamarix nilotica, Camellia sinensis and Curcuma aromatic were active against

Candida glabrata with IC50 <8, <8, <8, 52.25, 17.12, 45.3, 26.91 µg/mL respectively while the extract of Emblica officinalis, Quercus infectoria galls and Curcuma aromatica were the

most active against Cryptococcus neoformans with IC50 10.8, <8, 50.6 µg/mL respectively. A good antibacterial activity against MRSA was shown by the ethanol extracts of Spinacia

oleracea, Corchorus olitorius, Cyperus alopecuroids, and Sesamum indicum with IC50 13.5, 45.31, 18.73 and 19.32µg/mL respectively. Tannins and phenolic acids constituents of these plants proposed to be responsible for the activity through carbonic anhydrase inhibition.

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KEYWORDS: Medicinal plants; Beni-Suef; Egypt; Antiprotozoal; Antimicrobial; Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors.

INTRODUCTION Natural products were used by humans in many countries such as Egypt, China and India as drugs for thousands of years.[1] It was reported in a recent study conducted by the information and decision support centre in Egypt that 23% of the Egyptian use medicinal plants as a remedy.[2] There are more than 250,000 species of higher plants in the world among them only a small percentage of them have been investigated for their potential value as drugs.[3]

There are several approaches for selecting plants as candidate for drug discovery such as random selection followed by chemical or biological screening, follow up of ethnomedical uses of plants and biological activity reports.[4,5]

There is no previous study could be traced on plants growing in Beni-Suef Governorate as antiprotozoal and antimicrobial agents, therefore the present study focused on a systemic evaluation of a selection of commonly growing plant species in this area.

Infectious diseases either protozoal such as malaria and leishmania or microbial infections are considered as the major killing factors in the third world countries and the most important causes of premature death.[6] Difficulty of controlling the sources of infection, the high cost of treatment/prevention, poor compliance, low efficacy, poor safety an