16:00 - 18:00
Room: Poster Area - Poster Shed
Poster Presentation
Piperidine alkaloid enriched fractions from young shoots of Norway spruce (Picea abies) are antibacterial against Streptococcus equi ssp. equi
Pia Fyhrquist 1, Virpi Virjamo 2, Katri Nissinen 2, Riitta Julkunen-Tiitto 2
1 Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, P.O. Box 56, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland, Helsinki
2 Natural Product Research Laboratory, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 80101 Joensuu, Finland, Joensuu

Streptococcus equi ssp. equi is a haemolytic bacterium which causes an upper respiratory infection in horses, called strangles. Strangles is the most frequently diagnosed infectious disease in horses worldwide [1]. Strangles is highly contagious and is characterized by swollen lymph nodes and fever, eventually leading to death of young horses through suffocation and is thus of substantial economic concern in horse business [1]. Resistance to drugs has been reported to be low, with the exception of gentamicin [2]. Complication rate is, however high, with 20 % of the cases leading to severe infection and fatality [3]. To the best of our knowledge, there is a limited number of investigations concerning the use of plants and their extracts or individual compounds for prophylaxis and treatment of strangles.

Piperidine alkaloid enriched fractions were extracted from young shoots of Picea abies, using acid water and solid phase extraction [4]. Some of the fractions were separated further using RP18-TLC. The fractions were investigated for their growth inhibitory effects against S. equi ssp. equi ATCC 9528 using a microdilution method [5]. At 265-487 µg/ml, the fractions inhibited 45-100 % of the growth. A fraction enriched with trans-pinidinol gave especially good effects resulting in a MIC at 335 µg/ml. Our results indicate that young shoots of spruce and their alkaloid enriched extracts could be used both as prophylaxis and for treatment of strangles.

Acknowledgements:

The research was financed by the Academy of Finland (No. 267360)

References:

[1] Erol, E. et al. J Vet Diagn Inv 2012; 24 (1): 142-147

[2] Sweeney, C.R. et al. J Vet Intern Med 2005; 19:123–134

[3] Ford J, Lokai MD. Equine Pract 1980;4:41–44

[4] Virjamo, V. et al. J. Chem. Ecol. 2013; 39: 1322 1334

[5] Salih, E. et al. S Afr J Bot 2017; 108: 370-386


Reference:
Poster Session-PO-101:
Session:
Poster Presentation-1
Presenter/s:
Pia Fyhrquist
Presentation type:
Poster presentation
Room:
Poster Area - Poster Shed
Date:
Monday, 27th August, 2018
Time:
16:00 - 18:00
Session times:
16:00 - 18:00