Plants used to treat inflammatory ailments, pain, fever and infections in the Pamir Mountains in northeastern Afghanistan, were tested for antibacterial and COX-1 inhibitory activity. Water and ethanol extracts of 20 species were tested for antibacterial activity against two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria. The ethanol extract of Arnebia guttata inhibited Staphylococcus aureus with a MIC of 6 µg/mL. Water and ethanol extracts of Ephedra intermedia and the ethanol extracts of Lagochilus cabulicus and Peganum harmala inhibited Staphylococcus aureus at 0.5 mg/mL, and the P. harmala extract further inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis and E. coli, also with MICs of 0.5 mg/mL. Ethanol extracts of Artemisia persica (IC50: 0.5 µg/mL), Dragocephalum paulsenii (IC50: 0.5 µg/mL), Ephedra intermedia (IC50: 3.8 µg/mL), Hyoscyamus pusillus, Nepeta parmiriensis (IC50: 0.7 µg/mL) and Rumex patientia subsp. pamiricus (IC50: 3.5 µg/mL) exhibited COX-1 inhibitory activity. The observed in vitro activities support the use of some of the plant species in the traditional medicine systems of the Pamir Mountains.
Keywords: Afghanistan; COX; Pamir; antibacterial; medicinal plants.