Biological activities of crude saponin isolates from two Rhipsalis species

VATOFF, ANDREA MARIBEL; TORRES, CAROLA ANALÍA

Córdoba-Rosario

Encuentro; 6ta Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas. RICiFa 2020+1; 2021

Departamento de Cs Farmacéuticas, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Rhipsalis baccifera and R. lumbricoides are epiphytic cacti used medicinally by natives of the Chaco. Both species showed the presence of saponins in previous studies. The aim of this work was to evaluate the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity of a saponin-rich fraction of both species. The fractions were obtained by liquid-liquid extraction using chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol and reduced to dryness. In vitro anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by the inhibitory effect on lipoxygenase activity at 234 nm. The results were expressed as IC50 values in µg/ml of reaction. Antibacterial activity was determined by microdilution in broth. The following strains were used: Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Escherichia coli ATCC 35218, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, three clinical isolates of S. aureus and three of E. coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined. Both fractions showed inhibitory effect against the lipooxygenase enzyme. The IC50 for the R. baccifera fraction was 79.5 µg/mL, while for R. lumbricoides it was 343 µg/mL. MIC values ranged from 0.75 to 6 mg/mL. The R. lumbricoides fraction was active against all bacteria tested. These results are promising and confirm in part the popular uses attributed to these species.