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The aim of this study was to isolate and identify active compounds with antifungal activity from <jats:italic>Maytenus undata<\/jats:italic> after a preliminary study highlighted promising activity in crude extracts.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Sequential extracts of <jats:italic>M. undata<\/jats:italic> leaves prepared using hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), acetone and methanol (MeOH) were tested for activity against <jats:italic>Cryptococcus neoformans<\/jats:italic>, a fungal organism implicated in opportunistic infections. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the hexane extract using <jats:italic>C. neoformans<\/jats:italic> as test organism was carried out to isolate antifungal compounds. The cytotoxicity of compounds isolated in sufficient quantities was evaluated using a tetrazolium-based colorimetric cellular assay (MTT) and a haemagglutination assay (HA).<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>The hexane extract was most active with an MIC of 20 \u03bcg\/ml against <jats:italic>C. neoformans<\/jats:italic>. The triterpene compounds friedelin (1), epifriedelanol (2), taraxerol (3), 3-oxo-11\u03b1-methoxyolean-12-ene-30-oic acid (4), 3-oxo-11\u03b1-hydroxyolean-12-ene-30-oic acid (5) and 3,11-dihydroxyolean-12-ene-30-oic acid (6) were isolated. Compound 6 was isolated for the first time from a plant species. The antimicrobial activity of compounds 1, 3, 5 and 6 was determined against a range of bacteria and fungi implicated in opportunistic and nosocomial infections. Compounds 5 and 6 were the most active against all the tested microorganisms with MIC values ranging between 24 and 63 \u03bcg\/ml, except against <jats:italic>Staphylococcus aureus<\/jats:italic> which was relatively resistant. Compounds 1 and 3 had a low toxicity with an LC<jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub> &gt; 200 \u03bcg\/ml towards Vero cells in the MTT assay. Compounds 5 and 6 were toxic with LC<jats:sub>50<\/jats:sub> values of 6.03\u00b10.02 and 2.98\u00b10.01 \u03bcg\/ml, respectively. Compounds 1 and 3 similarly were not toxic to the red blood cells (RBCs) but compounds 5 and 6 were toxic, showing HA titer values of 1.33 and 0.67 respectively.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Compounds 5 and 6 were the most active but were also relatively cytotoxic to monkey kidney cells and red blood cells, while the other isolated compounds were less active and less cytotoxic.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/1472-6882-13-111","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,20]],"date-time":"2013-05-20T14:14:14Z","timestamp":1369059254000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":53,"title":["Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of triterpenes isolated from leaves of Maytenus undata (Celastraceae)"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Tsholofelo Abednego","family":"Mokoka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lyndy Joy","family":"McGaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ladislaus Kakore","family":"Mdee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Victor Patrick","family":"Bagla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ezekiel Olugbenga","family":"Iwalewa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jacobus Nicolaas","family":"Eloff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,5,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"1408_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.1006\/mpev.2001.0937","volume":"19","author":"MP Simmons","year":"2001","unstructured":"Simmons MP, Savolainen V, Clevinger CC, Archer RH, Davis JI: Phylogeny of the Celastraceae inferred from 26S Nuclear Ribosomal DNA, Phytochrome B, rbcL, atpB, and morphology. 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