Anti-diabetic and antimicrobial ac- tivities of fractions and compounds isolated from Berberis brevissima Jafri and Berberis

Methanol extracts of the roots of Berberis brevissima and Berberis parkeriana were examined for anti-diabetic and antimicrobial activities. Six compounds i.e berberine, 8-oxo-berberine, dehydrocheilanthifoline, columbamine, jatrorrhizine and glutamic acid were isolated from the active fractions of these species for the first time. The anti-diabetic activity was determined against protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP 1B), a negative insulin regulator while the antimicrobial activity was performed against four bacterial strains: Mycobacterium marinum ATCC BAA535, sporadic methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (SMRSA), endemic methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (EMRSA) and Escherichia coli ATCC.8739 at different concentrations. Amongst the isolated compounds 8-oxo-berberine was found to be the most active antidiabetic (29% of the positive control) while jatrorrhizine was the most active and selective antimicrobial against SMRSA and EMRSA (-1.2% of the DMSO (D) control). Article Info Received: 21 February 2013 Accepted: 16 July 2013 Available Online: 1 August 2013 DOI: 10.3329/bjp.v8i3.13888 Cite this article: Ali S, Igoli J, Clements C, Semaan D, Alamzeb M, Mamoon-Ur-Rashid, Shah SQ, Ferro VA, Gray AI, Khan MR. Anti-diabetic and antimicrobial activities of fractions and compounds isolated from Berberis brevissima Jafri and Berberis parkeriana Schneid. Bangladesh J Pharmacol. 2013; 8: 336-42. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute and perform the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. Anti-diabetic and antimicrobial activities of fractions and compounds isolated from Berberis brevissima Jafri and Berberis parkeriana Schneid Saqib Ali1, John Igoli2, Carol Clements2, Dima Semaan2, Muhammad Alamzeb1, Mamoon-Ur-Rashid1, Syed Qaisar Shah3, Valerie A. Ferro2, Alexander I. Gray2 and M. Rafiullah Khan1 Phytopharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Research Laboratories (PNRL), Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan: Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde, 161 Cathedral Street Glasgow, G4 0RE, Scotland, UK; Nuclear and Molecular Research Laboratories, Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan. extracts of B. aristata, B. asiatica and B. lycium have also been reported to show good antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus and A. terreus (WHO, 2009). Keeping in view the activities of the genus Berberis, we have selected B. brevissima Jafri and Berberis parkeriana Schneid to investigate their anti-diabetic and antimicrobial activities. In the current study, we have isolated six compounds and are reporting the activities of their fractions and the isolated compounds. Materials and Methods