Antibacterial, Antifungal and Toxicity of Rare Iranian Plants

As a part of our drug discovery program, an effort to introduce new effective medicinal plants, with antibacterial, antifungal and cytotoxic properties was made. The extracts of aerial part of 8 plants, collected in southeastern Iran, were investigated against standard strains of Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aernginosa, Salmonella entrica subsp. entrica ser. Typhi, Escherichia coli, meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (isolated from patients), Fusarium oxyosporum, Aspergilus niger, and Aspergilus fumigatus. We used brine shrimp (Artemia salina) cytotoxicity bioassay in order to provide a better base for introducing the extracts as the new therapeutic candidates. Capparis deciduas (Forsk.) Edjw. and Cleome oxypetala Boiss. (both from Capparidaceae family) were recognized as having the potential for development of new antibiotics. On the other hand, Cistanche tubulosa (Schrenk) RWight, could be worthy of attention for finding anticancer phytochemicals.