Anti Microbial and Antileishmanial Active Acetogenins from Avacado (Persea americana) Fruits

In our search for safe antimicrobial and antileishmanial agents from natural sources we undertook an investigation of fruits and seeds of Persea americana. Primary screening of the methylene chloride extract of P. americana fruits showed moderate activities against Leishmania donovani promastigotes, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Activity-guided fractionation of the above extract led to the isolation of two previously identified acetogenins [1], (5E,12Z,15Z)-2-hydroxy-4-oxohenicosa-5,12,15-triene-1-yl acetate (1) and (2E,5E,12Z,15Z)-1-hydroxyhenicosa-2,5,12,15-triene-4-one (2) as the active compounds. Both these compounds showed good antileishmanial activity. Compound 2 showed strong activity against MRSA and P. aeruginosa where as compound 1 was inactive against P. aeruginosa and had only weak activity against MRSA. These compounds had previously reported to have potent liver injury suppressing activity in animal models [1].

References: [1] Kawagishi H, Fukumoto Y, et al. (2001)J Agric Food Chem, 49: 2215–2221.