Antibacterial Activity of the Bioactive Fractions of Cyathula uncinulata (Amaranthaceae)

Abstract

Cyathula uncinulata (Schrad.) Schinz is used in ethnomedicine in various parts of the world. This study isolated and characterized a bioactive compound from C. uncinulata based on its antibacterial activities. Separation of the bioactive compound from the ethyl acetate fractions of the plant was by solvent-solvent fractionation followed by repeated column chromatography. The structure of the compound was elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopic Original Research Article Bisi-Johnson et al.; EJMP, 10(1): 1-9, 2015; Article no.EJMP.18649 2 methods. The NMR spectra of the isolated compound showed that the compound with formula C 22 H 38 O 7 and molecular weight 414.5329 has a long aliphatic chain made up of sugar and fatty acyl moiety. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of fractions of extracts ranges from 0.39 to 2.5 mg/ml. The MIC of the final purified compound was 0.34 mg/ml compared to the MIC of 0.19 of kanamycin indicating a reasonable bioactivity. This study thus supports the traditional use of C. uncinulata in the treatment of bacterial infections.