Calligonum polygonoides L. subsp. comosum; locally known as “arta”, is tall woody shrub, perennial
desert plant. TLC
screening, estrogenic and antimicrobial activities of different fractions of hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves; n-
hexane, CH2Cl2, EtOAc and n-BuOH, were studied in order to find the correlation between the phytoconstituents and the
biological activity. Estrogenic activity was studied in immature ovariectomized
female Wistar rats by
oral administration of 75 and 150 mg extract/kg
body weight for seven days using 1 μg
estradiol/
rat/day as positive control. The antimicrobial activity against
Aspergillus fumigatus,
Candida albicans,
Staphylococcus aureus,
Bacillus subtilis,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
Klebsiella pneumonia was carried out using
agar diffusion method with
determination of the
minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The CH2Cl2 fraction showed significant estrogenic and antimicrobial activity by significantly increasing uterine weight and low MIC values for all tested microorganisms ranging from 0.03 and 3.9 mg/mL. The n-
hexane fraction showed mainly the presence of
sterols and/or
triterpenoids. The EtOAc and n-BuOH fractions were the richest in
flavonoids while that of
methylene chloride was found to contain both classes of
chemical compounds. In conclusion;
flavonoids,
sterols and/or
triterpenes exhibit synergistic effect to the antimicrobial and estrogenic activity of Calligonum polygonoides leaves. Abbreviations CH2Cl2
methylene chloride, EtOAc ethyl
acetate, n-BuOH normal
butanol, MIC
minimum inhibitory concentration, TLC
thin layer chromatography, b. wt.
body weight, p. o.
oral administration, HE n-
hexane extracts of leaves, ME
methylene chloride extract of leaves, EE ethyl
acetate extract of leaves, BE
n-butanol extract of leaves, RCMB Regional Center for
Mycology and
Biotechnology, NA No activity.