Journal of Ethnopharmacology 133 (2011) 1021–1026 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Ethnopharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm Antituberculosis potential of some ethnobotanically selected Malaysian plants Suriyati Mohamad a,∗ , Nabihah Mohd Zin b , Habibah A. Wahab b , Pazilah Ibrahim b , Shaida Fariza Sulaiman a , Anis Safirah Mohd Zahariluddin a , Siti Suraiya Md. Noor c a School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800 Penang, Malaysia b School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, 11800 Penang, Malaysia c School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia article info Article history: Received 26 September 2010 Received in revised form 5 November 2010 Accepted 15 November 2010 Available online 19 November 2010 Keywords: Antituberculosis activity Medicinal plants Malaysia abstract Aim of the study: Many local plants are used in Malaysian traditional medicine to treat respiratory dis- eases including symptoms of tuberculosis. The aim of the study was to screen 78 plant extracts from 70 Malaysian plant species used in traditional medicine to treat respiratory diseases including symptoms of tuberculosis for activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using a colorimetric microplate-based assay. Materials and methods: Plant extracts were prepared by maceration in methanol (80%) and antituberculo- sis screening was carried out using Tetrazolium bromide microplate assay (TEMA) method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Results: Thirty-eight plant extracts from 36 plant species exhibited antituberculosis activity with MICs in the range of 1600–400 g/ml. The leaf extract of Angiopteris evecta exhibited the highest activity with MIC of 400 g/ml. Five other extracts, namely, Costus speciosus (stem and flower), Piper sarmentosum (whole plant), Pluchea indica (leaf), Pluchea indica (flower), and Tabernaemontana coronaria (leaf) exhib- ited antituberculosis activity, each with MIC of 800 g/ml. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of in vitro high throughput screening of Malaysian medicinal plants for antituberculosis activity. Conclusions: Antituberculosis activity of extracts of some plants justifies, to a certain extent their eth- nomedicinal uses as remedies for symptoms of tuberculosis. These results also support the general view that, selecting the plants based on ethnobotanical criteria would enhance the probability of finding species with antituberculosis activity. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death in adults due to a single pathogen. Although its etiologic agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, was discovered back in 1882, it has remained a major global problem (Murray, 2004). The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that in 2008, the largest number of new TB cases occurred in the South-East Asia region, which accounted for 34% of incident cases globally (WHO, 2010a). Out of an estimated 1.3 mil- lion death from TB in 2008, the highest number of deaths was also in the South-East Asia region. In Malaysia, the number of TB cases has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the new mil- lennium, with more than 900 deaths reported annually (Malaysian Ministry of Health, 2010). An average of 16,487 cases were reported over the past five years. In 2008, 17,570 new cases were regis- tered in Malaysia, out of which 10,441 cases were infectious forms (Hashim, 2008). Even though Malaysia is ranked by WHO as an ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 4 6533888; fax: +60 4 6565125. E-mail address: suri@usm.my (S. Mohamad). intermediate TB burden country since 2004, it has been warned that an escalation in TB incidence could develop into an epidemic, indi- cating that TB is still a serious health problem in Malaysia (UNDP, 2010). TB is treatable but curing multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is very difficult and often requires very long courses of toxic drugs, thereby, raising serious problems of compliance (WHO, 2009). The additional emergence of extensively drug resistant strains (XDR-TB) coupled with an increasing number of TB and HIV co- infected patients has further escalated the global burden of TB (WHO, 2010b). In view of this overwhelming situation, there is an urgent need to search for alternative antituberculosis drugs, prefer- ably those that can be readily and simply produced from natural resources including plant species. Remedies derived from plants are still being used worldwide in the traditional medicine for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and ailments including tuberculosis. In this new millen- nium, research in search of chemical entities from plant species and other natural resources for activity against Mycobacteria species had intensified with the development of easier, faster and safer screening techniques. A good number of extracts and pure com- 0378-8741/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2010.11.037