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Acta Alimentaria, Vol. 39 (2), pp. 119–125 (2010) DOI: 10.1556/AAlim.39.2010.2.2

IN VITRO TESTING OF ANTIVIRAL, ANTIBACTERIAL, ANTIFUNGAL EFFECTS AND CYTOTOXICITY OF SELECTED

TURKISH PHLOMIS SPECIES

B. Özcelika*, i. Orhanb, M. kartalc and B. kOnuklugilc

aDepartment of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, 06330, Ankara. Turkey bDepartment of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, 06330, Ankara. Turkey

cDepartment of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, 06110, Ankara. Turkey

(Received: 11 June 2007; accepted: 17 June 2008)

The objective of this study was to examine antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties of selected Phlomis species (Lamiaceae) growing in Turkey. The petroleum ether and methanol extracts of the seven species, namely P. armeniaca Willd., P. bourgaei Boiss., P. leucophracta P.H. Davis & Hub.-Mor., P. lunariifolia Sibth. & Sm., P. lycia D. Don, P. pungens Willd. var. pungens, and P. pungens var. hirta Velen. were tested against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Enterococcus faecalis for their antibacterial activity using ampicillin and oflaxocin as references. Antifungal activity of the same extracts was determined against Candida albicans using microdilution method with ketocanazole as reference. Both DNA virus Herpes simplex type-1 (HSV-1) and RNA virus Parainfluenza (PI-3) were employed for antiviral assessment of the Phlomis extracts using Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney and Vero cell lines in which acyclovir for HSV-1 and oseltamivir for PI-3 were employed as reference drugs. Although both the petroleum ether and methanol extracts seemed to exert similar antibacterial activity, the methanolic extracts were observed to be more active against S. aureus and E. faecalis. On the other hand, methanolic extract of P. pungens var. pungens possessed notable antiviral activity against both type of viruses.

Keywords: Phlomis, Lamiaceae, antiviral, antimicrobial, cytotoxicity

Microbial activity is a primary mode of deterioration in many foods. Currently, an increasing tendency is being observed to use natural antibacterial agents such as some plant extracts, herbs and spices in order to preserve foods. Plants can produce antimicrobial compounds to protect themselves from biotic attack that could be essential for microbial infection resistance. Thus, efforts have been made to discover new antimicrobial agents and plants have been reported to be quite preferable in this search (Vlietinck & Van Den Berghe, 1991).

The Phlomis genus belonging to Lamiaceae family consists of thirty-four species and ten hybrids in the Turkish flora (HuBer-MOrath, 1982). In Turkish folk medicine, a number of Phlomis species have been reported to be used as stimulant and tonic (BaytOp, 1999). Numerous phytochemical studies have been performed on different Phlomis species up to now and essential oil analysis, flavonoids, iridoids, phenylethanoids, lignans and their glycosides have been widely described (Zhang et al., 1991; TOMas-BarBeran et al., 1992; Çaliş, et al., 2005).

Various industries are looking into new natural sources of environmentally friendly antimicrobials and food protection agents. It is well known that Lamiaceae species have been

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.Phone: +90-312-2023261; fax: +90-312-2235018; e-mails: berrin@gazi.edu.tr, microberr@yahoo.com.