The obtained MIC and MFC

values for antifungal activity of the plant extract evaluated using various fungal strain are presented in Table 2 and Table 3. The therapy of fungal infections caused by opportunistic pathogens such as C. albicans remains Selleck Abiraterone a major medical challenge. Infection by C. albicans leads to the formation of a biofilm which is resistant to the penetration of antifungal agents Based on total activity, methanolic extract of C. coromandelicum had the premier effectiveness against C. albicans. Plant showing significant activity may be due to the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and polyphenols. Two possibilities that may account for the higher antimicrobial activity of alcoholic extracts are the nature of biological active components which may be enhanced in the presence of methanol, the stronger extraction capacity of methanol that may have yielded a greater number of active constituents responsible for antimicrobial activity.17 and 18 This makes the plant ABT-737 mw as antimicrobial agents advantageous for the further investigations. Anti HIV research has been focused on compounds that interfere with various parts

of the viral life-cycle such as proteins encoded by the virus itself. HIV-Reverse Transcriptase (RT) performs various principle functions. (a) A process referred to as the RNA-dependent-DNA-polymerase (RDDP) in which the polymerase domain transcribes viral genomic RNA to viral DNA. (b) In the course of reverse transcription an intermediary RNA/DNA hybrid is formed. RT through its ribonuclease H (RNase H) domain degrades the RNA component of the hybrid. (c) RT carries out DNA-dependent DNA polymerization activities, only producing complementary DNA strands.19 and 20 The completion of each of these processes is required for the formation of a competent viral

DNA capable of integrating into the genome of the infected cell. The function of RT is, therefore, essential for replication of HIV and is a suitable target for chemotherapeutic intervention.21 In the present study examined HIV-1 RT inhibitory activity of the different extracts of C. coromandelicum. Most studies considered inhibition ≥50% as significant. Since all extracts were crude extracts and not the fractionated or purified active moieties, it was preferred using not too high or not too low concentration of the extracts, viz. 10 mg/ml. At this concentration, methanol extracts showed potent inhibition of RDDP function of HIV-RT. AZT was included as a positive control that showed 82.15% inhibition. The binding of gp120 to CD4 is also a critical step in HIV infection, as the outer envelope glycoprotein gp120 of HIV mediates viral attachment to the cell-surface glycoprotein CD4 in the initial phase of HIV infection.22 The effects of different extracts on gp120/CD4 interaction were examined. This was determined by pre-incubation of test compounds with the soluble gp120 before addition to immobilized CD4. The study revealed that, methanolic extract showed 72.