article · Journal of Pathogens
Stem bark from the tree Croton macrostachyus displays broad antimicrobial activity against several major human pathogens. While traditional medicine in Kenya uses the leaves and roots to treat infectious illnesses like typhoid and measles, laboratory testing evaluated methanol, butanol, and ethyl acetate extracts of the stem bark alongside the purified compound lupeol. The ethyl acetate extract proved to be the most active across all tested organisms, inhibiting gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter aerogenes, and the gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It also demonstrated weaker activity against the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Minimum inhibitory concentrations for the ethyl acetate extract ranged between 125 and 250 milligrams per millilitre for the bacterial species and 500 milligrams per millilitre for the fungus. Overall, the findings validate the plant stem bark and its constituent lupeol as potential natural sources of antimicrobial agents.
Bacterial and fungal infections remain major threats to global public health. Investigating traditional medicinal plants provides scientific validation for indigenous health practices and identifies candidate compounds to fight pathogens such as Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli. Confirming that Croton macrostachyus stem bark and lupeol inhibit common disease-causing microbes helps uncover prospective plant-derived candidates for future anti-infective research.
This research suggests prospective applications in pharmaceutical discovery for plant-derived antimicrobials targeting common bacterial pathogens. Pharmaceutical researchers and natural product developers could explore lupeol and refined extracts as early lead materials. Nevertheless, this work represents early-stage laboratory research. Substantial chemical optimisation, formulation, and safety testing would be required to advance these extracts or compounds toward clinical development.
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In Kenya, leaves and roots from Croton macrostachyus are used as a traditional medicine for infectious diseases such as typhoid and measles, but reports on possible antimicrobial activity of stem bark do not exist. In this study, the antibacterial and antifungal effects of methanol, ethyl acetate and butanol extracts, and purified lupeol of C. macrostachyus stem bark were determined against important human gram-negative pathogens Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter aerogenes, gram-positive Listeria monocytogenes, and a fungus Candida albicans. The most promising broad scale antimicrobial activity against all the studied pathogens was shown by the ethyl acetate extract. The ethyl acetate extract induced the zone of inhibition between 10.1 ± 0.6 mm and 16.0 ± 1.2 mm against S. typhi, E. coli, K. pneumoniae, E. aerogenes, and L. monocytogenes with weaker antimicrobial activity against C. albicans (zone of inhibition: 5.6 ± 1.0 mm). The antibiotic controls (amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, benzylpenicillin, clotrimazole, and cefotaxime) showed antimicrobial activity with zones of inhibition within 13.4 ± 0.7-22.1 ± 0.9 mm. The ethyl acetate extract had MIC in the range of 125-250 mg/mL against all the studied bacteria and against C. albicans MIC was 500 mg/mL. The present results give scientific evidence and support the traditional use of C. macrostachyus stem bark as a source for antimicrobials. We show that C. macrostachyus stem bark lupeol is a promising antimicrobial agent against several important human pathogens.
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DOI: 10.1155/2016/1453428
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