Abstract:
Compounds and extracts derived from the medicinal plants have profound uses in
medicine. The products from medicinal plants are believed to possess different classes of
chemicals that take part in the treatment of ailments. Several modern drugs have been
developed from these chemicals isolated mainly from traditionally used medicinal plants.
Dovyalis abyssinica is one of traditionally used medicinal plant for the treatment of various
ailments such as amoeba, tapeworm, abdominal pain, headache, wound infection, typhoid,
diarrhea, and eye infection. Even though, the chemical composition and anti-microbial
activity of the root extracts of Dovyalis abyssinica has been the subject of previous studies,
however; it is not exhaustively investigated as per its widely practiced by the traditional
healers for the treatment of different infectious diseases. Therefore, this study was
undertaken to identify bioactive secondary metabolites from the roots of Dovyalis
abyssinica and evaluation of its anti-microbial activities. With this regard, the air dried
roots of Dovyalis abyssinica was extracted (3x24 hr) with chloroform/acetone (1:1) by
maceration. The extract was evaluated for its anti-bacterial and ant-fungal activities; and
showed good activities against P. aeruginsa (bacterial strain) and C. albicans (fungal
strain) with zone of inhibition 14.1±0.5, 14.4±0.7 mm, respectively. The crude extract was
then subjected to column chromatography (CC) over silica gel, which was then eluted with
petroleum ether containing increasing amounts of ethyl acetate, and resulted one compound
(41). The structure of the isolated compound was elucidated using 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D
NMR spectroscopic techniques, and comparison with the literature. The isolated compound
was also evaluated and showed good activities against E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginsa
with zone of inhibition 19.7±2.7, 21.2±0.7, and 21.3±2.5 mm, respectively and against the
fungal strain (C. albicans) with the inhibition zone, 20.5±1.4 mm. The finding could be
used for comprehensive evaluations of the phytochemicals for their microbial activities and
also support the claim that the plant is used for the treatment of microbial disease.
