Antiviral and antimicrobial activities of three sesquiterpene lactones from Centaurea solstitialis L. ssp. solstitialis

Three sesquiterpene lactones (centaurepensin=chlorohyssopifolin A, chlorojanerin and 13-acetyl solstitialin A) were isolated from Centaurea solstitialis L. ssp. solstitialis (Asteraceae). Antimicrobial and antiviral properties of centaurepensin, chlorojanerin and 13-acetyl solstitialin A were screened against both standard and the isolated strains of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and C. parapsilosis by microdilution method. Herpes simplex type-1, as representative of DNA viruses and Parainfluenza as representative of the RNA viruses were employed for the determination of antiviral activity of this three sesquiterpene lactones by using Vero cell line. Ampicilline, ofloxacine, ketoconazole, fluconazole, aciclovir and oseltamivir were used as the control agents. 13-acetyl solstitialin A displayed remarkable antibacterial activity against isolated strains of E. faecalis at 1µg/mL concentration, which is close to the effective concentrations of the ampicillin. The data obtained from antiviral activity screening showed that 13-acetyl solstitialin A had significant activity against DNA virus same as the aciclovir at maximum and minimum concentration of 16 and 0.00006µg/mL