“main” — 2008/7/23 — 14:54 — page 427 — #1 Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (2008) 80(3): 427-432 (Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences) ISSN 0001-3765 www.scielo.br/aabc Identification of the antimicrobial substances produced by Solanum palinacanthum (Solanaceae) ALINE C. PEREIRA1, DENILSON F. OLIVEIRA1, GERALDO H. SILVA2, HENRIQUE C.P. FIGUEIREDO3, ALBERTO J. CAVALHEIRO2, DOUGLAS A. CARVALHO4, LUCIANA P. SOUZA1 and SÁRA M. CHALFOUN5 1Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Caixa Postal 3037, 37200-000 Lavras, MG, Brasil 2Departamento de Química Orgânica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” R. Francisco Degni s/n, 14800-900 Araraquara, SP, Brasil 3Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Caixa Postal 3037, 37200-000 Lavras, MG, Brasil 4Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Caixa Postal 3037, 37200-000 Lavras, MG, Brasil 5Centro Tecnológico do Sul de Minas, Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais Caixa Postal 176, 37200-000 Lavras, MG, Brasil Manuscript received on September 9, 2007; accepted for publication on April 14, 2008; presented by FERNANDO GALEMBECK ABSTRACT To find out natural antimicrobial agents as alternative in therapeutics and to preserve food, the methanol extract of Solanum palinacanthum aerial parts was submitted to purification steps guided by antibacterial and antifungal assays. As a consequence, the flavonoid rutin and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid were isolated by column chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, and identified by mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the quinic acid derivative against Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and the fungus Aspergillus ochraceus were 250, 1000, 1000 and > 568μg/mL, respectively. Against the same microorganisms, MIC for rutin were 1000, > 1000, > 1000 and 35μg/mL, respectively. Rutin was very promising for A. ochraceus control, since its MIC against such fungus was close to the one observed for benzalkonium chloride, which is used as a fungicide in Brazil. Key words: Solanum palinacanthum, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, rutin, antimicrobial activity. INTRODUCTION Food-borne diseases correspond to a world problem that can be caused by microorganisms or their toxic metabo- lites. An example is ochratoxin A, a nephrotoxic, hep- atotoxic and carcinogenic substance produced by some fungi of the Aspergillus genus that have been found in stored food such as coffee beans. It is also possible to mention enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus, which cause headache, diarrhea and vomit (Jay 2000). As a consequence, the use of additives to pro- tect food against microorganisms is of great interest to Correspondence to: Denilson F. Oliveira E-mail: denilson@ufla.br the food industry. However, consumers are increasingly avoiding products prepared with preservatives of chem- ical origin due to their undesirable effects on human health. A promising alternative to achieve quality im- provement in food commodities and a high degree of safety with respect to pathogenic microorganisms re- sides on the use of natural products (Rauha 2000). As plants have been important sources of new antimicrobial agents (Rios and Recio 2005), a preliminary evaluation of local plant extracts to identify those with antibacterial and antifungal properties was carried out. One of the best results was observed for the aerial parts of Solanum palinacanthum Dunal (Solanaceae), which presented ac- An Acad Bras Cienc (2008) 80 (3) “main” — 2008/7/23 — 14:54 — page 428 — #2 428 ALINE C. PEREIRA et al. tivity against Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus ochraceus. S. palinacanthum is a perennial herb or subshrub which spreads by means of slender, horizontal rhizomes. It is common in pastures, roadsides and similarly dis- turbed areas in Brazil (Coleman and Coleman 1982), where it has been used to treat skin diseases (Alves et al. 2006). Although its in vitro antimicrobial activity has already been briefly described in the literature by another research group (Alves et al. 2006), to the best of the authors’ knowledge no work has ever been done to identify the antimicrobial metabolites produced by S. palinacanthum. Thus, the methanolic extract of such plant leaves was submitted to purification steps guided by antimicrobial assays in order to isolate and identify those substances. MATERIALS AND METHODS GENERAL EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES All reagents used were of recognized analytical grade. Acetic acid and methanol were HPLC-grade. During purification steps, solvent concentrations were carried out in a rotary evaporator at 35◦C followed by 24 h in a freeze-drier. Except when mentioned otherwise, all fractions were submitted to antibacterial diffusion assays and antifungal assays to direct fractionation. Column chromatography (CC) was carried out on silica gel 60 (230-400 mesh, Merck) or Amberlite XAD-16 (Sigma). Mass spectrometry (MS) analyses were performed on an Agilent 1100 LC/MS Trap equipped with an elec- trospray interface. Samples (1.0 mg) were dissolved in water:methanol (1:1, 1.0 mL) and 20μL were directly in- jected into the interface. Deuterated dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO-d6) was used as solvent for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses, performed on a Varian in- strument (1H NMR: 500 MHz and 13C NMR: 125 MHz) using solvent peak as reference. Two dimensional NMR techniques (COSY, HMQC, HMBC and NOESY) were performed using standard Varian programs. EXTRACTION AND ISOLATION PROCEDURE Fresh leaves of Solanum palinacanthum Dunal (Sola- naceae), collected in Lavras city, Minas Gerais State (Brazil), and identified at Herbarium ESAL (ESAL 06644), at Universidade Federal de Lavras, were sub- mitted to exhaustive methanol extraction at room tem- perature. Part of the crude extract was submitted to the antibacterial (10 mg/mL) and antifungal (4 mg/mL) as- says. Then, 10 g of the S. palinacanthum crude extract were extracted exhaustively with hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. A 3.5 g aliquot of the fraction soluble in methanol was submitted to CC on silica gel. As eluents were used methanol, water and 0.1% HCl. Part of the active material eluted with methanol (400 mg) was sub- mitted to CC on Amberlite, using water and methanol as mobile phases. Part of the fraction eluted through the resin with methanol (176 mg) was purified on a HPLC system (Varian equipped with a 9050 UV detector at 254 nm, 9012 ternary pump and 9300 automated in- jector) using a Phenomenex Gemini silica C18 column (5μm, 250×10 mm). Gradient of water:methanol (80:20 to 32:68 in 16 min, 32:68 to 0:100 during 10 min) at 4.5 mL/min was used to elute substances, yielding seven fractions. Fraction six (F6, 27 mg, eluted between 14.5- 15.0 min) and fraction seven (F7, 68.2 mg, eluted be- tween 15.0-25.0 min) presented antimicrobial activity. F6 (20 mg) was purified on the same HPLC column using a 0.1% acetic acid:methanol (50:50) solution at 4.5 mL/min as mobile phase, which resulted in only one active fraction (rutin, 5.0 mg, elution at 8.0-8.6 min). For the purification of F7 (20 mg), a 0.1% acetic acid: methanol (45:55) solution at 4.5 mL/min was used as mobile phase, resulting in one active fraction (3,5-dicaf- feoylquinic acid, 7.4 mg, 7.7-8.5 min). NMR and MS analysis were employed to identify both substances. ANTIBACTERIAL ASSAYS Antibacterial activity was evaluated in duplicates, with four standard bacterial strains acquired from the American Type of Culture Collection (ATCC, USA): Aeromonas hydrophila ATCC 7966, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. Bacteria were grown in tryptic soy agar (TSA, Acumedia, USA), dur- ing 24 h at 37◦C. From each culture, a cell suspen- sion was prepared with an aqueous 0.85% NaCl solution and adjusted to 0.5 MacFarland turbidity. In the next step, a swab was used to inoculate bacteria on the sur- face of Müeller-Hinton agar (Merck, Germany) plates (95 × 15 mm). Subsequently, 40μL from each sample An Acad Bras Cienc (2008) 80 (3) “main” — 2008/7/23 — 14:54 — page 429 — #3 ANTIMICROBIALS PRODUCED BY SOLANUM PALINACANTHUM 429 (dissolved in ethanol/water 7:3) were deposited in 6 mm diameter holes made on the agar medium. All plates were incubated at 37◦C for 24 h. After this period, those frac- tions affording inhibition zones around the holes were considered active. Chloramphenicol (Sigma, USA) and etanol/water (7:3) were employed as positive and nega- tive controls, respectively. To determine minimal inhibitory and minimal bac- tericidal concentrations (MIC and MBC), a broth mi- crodilution assay was employed, using Müeller-Hinton broth (MHB, Biolife, Italy) supplemented with calcium and magnesium cations (Alderman and Smith 2001) and standard bacterial inoculums (7.5×104 CFU/well). The crude extract was dissolved in an aqueous 1% (g/mL) Tween 80 solution (10 mg/mL) and filtered through a 0.22μm membrane (GV Durapore PVDF, Milipore, USA). Ten twofold serial dilutions were prepared to fi- nal concentrations ranging from 5,000 to 9.7μg/mL. The isolated substances were dissolved in DMSO (2.0 mg/ 100μL) and diluted in MHB, resulting in a 2.0 mg/mL solution. Twofold serial dilutions were prepared to fi- nal concentrations ranging from 1,000 to 1.95μg/mL. Chloramphenicol (Sigma, USA) and DMSO were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. After 24 h at 37◦C, the experiment was evaluated and 10μL were withdrawn from the content of each well with no visible bacterial growth and subcultured in TSA. MIC was de- fined as the lowest concentration of the tested substance that prevented a visible bacterial growth and MBC was defined as the lowest concentration yielding no subcul- tures during 24 h at 37◦C. ANTIFUNGAL ASSAYS To direct fractionation steps, antifungal activity was evaluated with Aspergillus ochraceus isolated from cof- fee beans as described in the literature (Kulwant et al. 1991). Suspension A was made from such fungus’ spores (40μL − 3.69 × 105 spores) and 200μL of an aqueous 1% (g/mL) Tween 80 solution containing the sample to be evaluated at approximately 4.0 mg/mL. Czapek yeast extract agar (CYA) (Kulwant et al. 1991) was sterilized at 120◦C during 15 min and deposited (200μL) into each well of a polypropylene 96 wells plate. After CYA solid- ification, suspension A (20μL) was poured into the wells and the plate was kept at 25◦C, with a 12 h photoperiod, during 48 h. Assays were carried out with three rep- etitions, employing benzalkonium chloride and DMSO as positive and negative controls, respectively. Those samples which did not allow fungal growth were consid- ered active. Minimal inhibitory concentrations were obtained by a broth microdilution assay, using Czapek yeast ex- tract without agar (CYB) and standard fungal inocu- lums (1 × 104 spores). The crude extract and the iso- lated substances were dissolved in DMSO (96.0 mg/mL and 12.5 mg/mL, respectively) and diluted with CYB (16 mg/mL and 1.14 mg/mL, respectively). Ten twofold serial dilutions were prepared to final concentrations ranging from 8,012.0 to 15.6μg/mL (crude extract) and 568.0 to 1.1μg/mL (isolated substances). After 48 h at 25◦C, with a 12 h photoperiod, MIC was the lowest concentration of the tested substance that prevented fungal growth. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Up to now only a very brief report on the S. palinacan- thum antimicrobial activity has been published (Alves et al. 2006). According to the authors, such plant extract could inhibit in vitro the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Some studies were also found in the literature on the antibacterial properties of other species of the Solanum genus. For example, S. torvum showed activity against Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and S. aureus (Wiart et al. 2004), while S. nigrum was active against Salmonella typhi (Rani and Khullar 2004). S. trilobatum was able to reduce bacterial load in an aquaculture system (Citarasu et al. 2003) and S. incanum could inhibit the growth of B. subtilis, B. cereus, B. pumilus, Enterobacter aerogenes, E. cloacae, Micrococcus kristinae and S. aureus (Kambizi and Afolayan 2001). Similarly, in this study it was observed that S. palinacanthum prevented the growth of A. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, S. aureus and the fungus A. ochraceus, but P. aeruginosa, a resistant bacterium to several antimicrobial agents, was not af- fected by the methanol extract of that plant (Table I). The fractionation of such extract guided by anti- microbial assays yielded two substances. One of them, isolated as a pale yellow residue, presented NMR spec- tra in perfect agreement with data previously reported An Acad Bras Cienc (2008) 80 (3) “main” — 2008/7/23 — 14:54 — page 430 — #4 430 ALINE C. PEREIRA et al. TABLE I Inhibition zone diameter (IZD), minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) for the crude methanol extract of Solanum palinacanthum aerial part. Microorganism IZD (mm) MIC (μg/mL) MBC (μg/mL) Aeromonas hydrophila 12.5 1250 1250 Bacillus subtilis 9.5 5000 >5000 Pseudomonas aeruginosa – a – a – a Staphylococcus aureus 9.5 2500 2500 Aspergillus ochraceus – b 8012 – b ano inhibition. bnot performed. OHO OH O O OH OH O HO OH OH O CH3 OH OH OH O HO HO O O OH OH O OH O OH O Rutin 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid Fig. 1 – Antimicrobial substances isolated from Solanum palinacanthum. for quercetin 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-6)-β-D-glu- copyranoside (rutin, Fig. 1) (Lee et al. 2004, Niassy et al. 2004, Dubber et al. 2005). The identification of rutin was corroborated by MS analysis, since in the negative mode two peaks at m/z 609 [M−H]− and 645 [M+Cl]− could be observed. In the positive mode a peak at m/z 633 [M+Na]+ was detected. Rutin, a flavonoid widely distributed in the plant kingdom, presents several biological activities. It has al- ready been isolated from some species of the Solanum genus, like S. tuberosum (Lewis et al. 1998), S. lyratum (Yang et al. 2002) and S. lycopersicum (Van der Rest et al. 2006). However, to the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first report on the isolation of such substance from S. palinacanthum. When submitted to broth mi- crodilution assays (Table II), it presented low an- tibacterial activity. Nevertheless, MIC value against A. ochraceus was close to the one observed for benzalko- nium chloride, the only fungicide used in Brazil to control such fungus in coffee beans (Ministério da Agri- cultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento. Sistema de Agrotó- xicos Fitossanitários 2006). Although the antimicrobial properties of rutin have already been described (Cushnie and Lamb 2005, Van der Watt and Pretorius 2001), its potential to control A. ochraceus, a food-borne pathogen in stored food, especially coffee beans, has not been previously reported. The second active substance was isolated as a light yellow residue whose NMR spectra were in perfect agreement with data (Carnat et al. 2000, Beninger et al. 2004, Clifford et al. 2005) registered in the literature for 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (Fig. 1). In the positive mode, MS spectra presented peaks at m/z 555 [M+K]+, 539 [M+Na]+ and 517 [M+H]+, while in the negative mode a peak at m/z 515 [M−H]− was observed. Although caf- feoylquinic acid derivatives are known as coffee com- ponents, they are widespread in plants (Guerrero et al. 2001), including those of the Solanum genus. Concern- ing 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid specifically, it has been iso- lated from S. melongena (Whitaker and Stommel 2003), An Acad Bras Cienc (2008) 80 (3) “main” — 2008/7/23 — 14:54 — page 431 — #5 ANTIMICROBIALS PRODUCED BY SOLANUM PALINACANTHUM 431 TABLE II Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of rutin and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid. Aeromonas Bacillus Staphylococcus Aspergillus Substance hydrophila subtilis aureus ochraceus MICa MBCa MICa MBCa MICa MBCa MICa Rutin 1000 > 1000 > 1000 – b > 1000 – b 35 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid 250 250 1000 > 1000 1000 1000 > 568 Chloramphenicol 20 50 100 100 200 > 200 – b Benzalkonium chloride – b – b – b – b – b – b 8 aValues in μg/mL. bnot performed. but the literature reveals no information on the presence of such caffeic acid derivative in S. palinacanthum. Other researchers reported the antibacterial and antifungal ac- tivity of this substance (Zhu et al. 2004) as well as its potent antiviral activity (Li et al. 2005). Antioxidative (Wang et al. 2003), antiproliferative, tirosinase inhibi- tory and antihypertensive activity were also attributed to this compound (Iwai et al. 2004, Mishima et al. 2005). Summarizing, the substances responsible for the antimicrobial properties of the S. palinacanthum leaves extract have been isolated and identified as rutin and 3,5- dicaffeoylquinic acid. Although their in vitro antibacte- rial activities were not as pronounced as expected, rutin was very promising to control the fungus A. ochraceus. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), Con- selho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecno- lógico (CNPq) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). RESUMO Com vistas a descobrir antimicrobianos de origem natural para uso terapêutico ou para a preservação de alimentos, o extrato metanólico das partes aéreas de Solanum palinacanthum foi submetido a fracionamentos direcionados por testes para ava- liar a atividade antibacteriana e antifúngica. Em decorrência, o flavonóide rutina e o ácido 3,5-dicafeoilquínico foram isolados por cromatografia em coluna e por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência, para serem identificados por espectrometria de massas e de ressonância magnética nuclear. As concentrações inibitórias mínimas (CIM) do derivado do ácido cafeico con- tra Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus e o fungo Aspergillus ochraceus foram 250, 1000, 1000 e > 568μg/mL, respectivamente. Contra os mesmos orga- nismos, os valores de CIM para a rutina foram 1000, >1000, >1000 e 35μg/mL, respectivamente. 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