Anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity of Sideritis scardica extracts

Sideritis scardica Griseb., Lamiaceae (mountain tea) is an endemic plant of the Balcan peninsula. Traditionally, mountain tea has been used as descongestant of the respiratory tract, analgesic, wound healing and astringent agent, known as well for its anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective properties [1]. In the present study we evaluated anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects of fractions prepared from an ethanolic extract of aerial plant material (ether, ethyl acetate and 1-butanol fractions). Anti-inflammatory activity was tested by the carrageenan-induced rat's paw oedema test. The extracts, dissolved in DMSO and applied in concentrations of 200, 100 and 50mg/kg, showed significant anti-inflammatory effect. Compared to the effect of the positive control anti-inflammatory drug indomethacine (4mg/kg) which produced 50% decrease of inflammation, ether and 1-butanol extracts exhibited about the same effect in doses 200 and 100mg/kg (53.6 and 48.7%; 48.4 and 49.9%, respectively). Data were statistically evaluted applying Tukey test as a post hoc multiple comparisons. The ethanol extract and its ether, ethyl acetate and 1-butanol fractions have been examined as well for their antimicrobial activity using agar diffusion and broth microdilution methods [2,3]. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using the following laboratory strains of microorganisms: Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC12228), Micrococcus luteus (ATCC10240), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), Klebsiella pneumoniae (NCIMB9111), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853) and yeast Candida albicans (ATCC10259). The investigated samples exhibited antimicrobial activity to varying degree against all tested strains. The maximum activity was observed against S. epidermidis, M. luteus, E. coli and P. aeruginosa, moderate against K. pneumoniae. The n-ButOH fraction was the most active (50mg/ml ethanol solution exhibited 206.7% of ampicillin activity against S. epidermidis).

References: [1] Gabrieli, C.N. et al. (2005) J. Ethnopharnacol 96: 423–428. [2] Hili, P. et al. (1997) Lett Applied Microb 24: 269–275. [3] Candan, F. et al. (2003) J Ethnopharmacol 87: 215–220.