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Planta Med 2011; 77(6): 641-646
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1250642
Tropical Diseases
Reviews
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Buruli Ulcer: A Review of In Vitro Tests to Screen Natural Products for Activity against Mycobacterium ulcerans

Achille Yemoa1 , Joachim Gbenou2 , Dissou Affolabi3 , Mansourou Moudachirou2 , André Bigot1 , Séverin Anagonou3 , Françoise Portaels4 , Joëlle Quetin-Leclercq5 , Anandi Martin4
  • 1UFR Pharmacie, Faculté des Sciences de Santé Université d'Abomey Calavi (UAC), Cotonou, Bénin
  • 2Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie et des Huiles Essentielles (LAPHE), Cotonou, Bénin
  • 3Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries (LRM), Cotonou, Bénin
  • 4Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Microbiology Department, Mycobacteriology Unit, Antwerpen, Belgium
  • 5Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Pharmacognosy Research Group, Bruxelles, Belgium
Further Information

Publication History

received July 14, 2010 revised Nov. 25, 2010

accepted Nov. 27, 2010

Publication Date:
14 January 2011 (online)

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Abstract

Buruli ulcer (BU), caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, has recently been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an important emerging disease. It is largely a problem of the poor in remote rural areas and has emerged as an important cause of human suffering. While antimycobacterial therapy is often effective for the earliest nodular or ulcerative lesions, for advanced ulcerated lesions, surgery is sometimes necessary. Antimycobacterial drugs may also prevent relapses or disseminated infections. Efficient alternatives different from surgery are presently explored because this treatment deals with huge restrictive factors such as the necessity of prolonged hospitalization, its high cost, and the scars after surgery. Traditional treatment remains the first option for poor populations of remote areas who may have problems of accessibility to synthetic products because of their high cost. The search for efficient natural products active on M. ulcerans should then be encouraged because they are part of the natural heritage of these populations; they are affordable financially and can be used at the earliest stage. This review provides a number of tests that will help to evaluate the antimycobacterial activity of natural products against M. ulcerans, which are adapted to its slow growing rate, and lists active extracts published up to now in Medline.

Key words

natural products - antimycobacterial - screening - Buruli ulcer

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Achille Yemoa

Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Pharmacie
Faculté des Sciences de Santé Université d'Abomey Calavi (UAC)

04 BP 494 Cotonou

Bénin

Phone: +22 9 97 07 82 07

Email: ayemoa@yahoo.fr

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