Planta Med 2011; 77 - PM225
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282983

Biological properties of the berries of five Juniperus species in Juniperus section from Turkey

N Miceli 1, MF Taviano 1, A Trovato 1, R De Pasquale 1, P Maimone 1, A Melchini 2, V Bellinghieri 1, A Marino 1, MM Hürkul 3, A Güvenç 3
  • 1Pharmaco-Biological Department, University of Messina, Vill. SS. Annunziata, 98168 Messina, Italy
  • 2Plant Natural Products and Health Dept., Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, NR47LX Norwich, United Kingdom
  • 3Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Ankara University, Tandoğan 06100 Ankara, Turkey

In Turkish traditional medicine, the species under Juniperus section are frequently employed to treat several diseases [1,2]. This work was designed to define and compare the antiproliferative and antimicrobial activities of berries methanol extracts of five Juniperus species from Turkey: J. communis L. var. communis (Jcc), J. communis L. var. saxatilis (Pallas) A.E.Murray (Jcs), J. drupacea Lab. (Jd), J. oxycedrus L. ssp. oxycedrus (Joo), J. oxycedrus L. ssp. macrocarpa (Sibth. et Sm.) Ball (Jom). The effect of Juniperus extracts on cell proliferation was tested „in vitro“ on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells. A decrease in HepG2 cells viability after 24-h exposure to Jcc, Jcs, and Jd extracts was observed. Based on IC50 values, the activity of the extracts decreased in the order Jcs > Jd > Jcc (IC50=6.62±0.61µg/mL, 7.61±2.25µg/mL, and 8.42±1.32µg/mL, respectively). Joo and Jom extracts inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells approximately of 40% at the lowest tested dose (1.25µg/mL), while the activity diminished with increasing concentrations, resulting close to zero at the dose of 10µg/mL. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by standard methods on gram-positive, gram-negative bacteria and fungi.The efficacy was appreciable on gram-positive only. Among the extracts Jd showed the higher bacteriostatic activity (MIC: 78.12–312.50µg/mL) than Jcs and Jcc (156.25–1250.00µg/mL) followed by Joo and Jom (625.00–1250.00µg/mL). The obtained results give support to the ethnopharmacological use of these Turkish Juniperus species and suggest their potential use in the prevention and/or treatment of infections and cancer.

Acknowledgement: The authors are grateful to Federfarma Messina for financial support

References: 1. Stanic G et al. (1998) Phytother Res 12: 494–497.

2. Sakar MK et al. (2002) Acta Pharm Turc 44: 213.