Abstract
Phytochemical studies performed on 4 Indonesian epiphytic medicinal plants, Drynaria rigidula L., Hydnophytum formicarum Jack, Usnea misaminensis (Vain) Motyka, and Calymperes schmidtii Broth., revealed 11 known secondary metabolites (
The archipelago of Indonesia is rich in medicinal plants including the neglected subset of epiphytic medicinal plants. 1 Our previous studies revealed the chemical constituents, and their corresponding activities, from the rhizome of the Indonesian epiphytic fern Drynaria rigidula L. 2 Here we report on the continued phytochemical investigations into Indonesian epiphytic species including the leaves of D. rigidula, and further, the whole plant of Hydnophytum formicarum Jack, an epiphytic lichen Usnea misaminensis (Vain) motyka and an epiphytic bryophyte Calymperes schmidtii Broth (Figure 1). The indigenous people of Indonesia have claimed the medicinal benefits of these species including D. rigidula to treat eye infection, a decocted pith of H. formicarum drunken to alleviate swellings and headache, whereas U. misaminensis was traditionally used to treat fever, dysentery, inflammation, and hypertension. Usnea was claimed to have astringent, diuretic, antiflatulent, and anti-inflammatory activities and the decocted plant was prescribed to treat diarrhea and dysentery, aphthous ulcers, and abdominal distention. 3 Calymperes schmidtii is part of the nonvascular plant group, bryophytes, which consists of approximately 21 000 species, of which only 2% have been phytochemically studied. 4,5 Compared to common medicinal plants, medicinal uses of bryophytes are less common with reported traditional uses of mosses including the external use of a poultice of Calymperes sp. as insecticidal agent. 6 These epiphytes reside in moist, dense clusters, which are likely to harvest microbes, and, therefore, these species may produce antimicrobial secondary metabolites. The limited reports of phytochemical data analyzing these medicinal epiphytic plant, therefore, lead to this current investigation focusing on the chemical and bioactivity investigations of the extracts and fractions of these epiphytes. Specifically, we tested a range of biological activities; as examples, against Plasmodium falciparum given its prevalence in the region as well as the possibility of this microorganism being responsible for some of the symptoms treated in traditional medicine in the region, and against Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a surrogate for antimicrobial activity as well as being a microbe in which new treatments are still being investigated. We also tested against herpes simplex virus type 1, cancer cell lines, and cytoxicity testing.
Indonesian epiphytic medicinal plants. (a Drynaria rigidula L, b Hynophytum formicarum jack, c Usnea misaminensis (Vain) Motyka and d Calymperes schmidtii broth.)
The phytochemical studies on these 4 Indonesian epiphytic medicinal plants resulted in the isolation of 11 secondary metabolites (Figure 2). The hexane fraction from the crude extract of the leaves of D. rigidula produced 3 major secondary metabolites, namely campesterol

Secondary metabolites isolated from 4 Indonesian epiphytic medicinal plants, Drynaria rigidula (
Phytochemical investigations into the hexane fraction from the initial methanol extract of H. formicarum produced 2 sterols stigmast-4-en-3-one
The n-hexane fraction from the initial methanol extract of U. misaminensis produced pale yellow crystals, which were identified as usnic acid

Oak ridge thermal-ellipsoid plot program drawing of usnic acid 8 and salazinic acid 9.
Usnic acid and salazinic acid have been reported to possess antibacterial activities 12,13 with the latter having inhibitory activity against the inflammation regulator, microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1. 14 These outcomes support the traditional claims of the Indonesian indigenous population with the use of U. misaminensis in infective-related dysentery and inflammation therapy.
Undertaking phytochemical studies on the moss C. schmidtii was challenging due to the limited availability of biomass. Therefore, its isolation protocol was simplified with the defatted crude extract directly subjected to semipreparative HPLC. A gradient eluent from 100% to 0% of solvent A (solvent A, 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid [TFA] in water; solvent B, 0.1% TFA in acetonitrile) within 80 minutes led to the isolation of 2 benzoic acid derivatives at retention times of 39 and 43 minutes. These major constituents (Figure 2) were assigned as methyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoate
The crude extracts from all 4 species, and their fractions, were screened against a small range of cancer cell lines, and for their antimicrobial activity (Table 1). The DCM fraction of D. rigidula was cytotoxic against breast cancer cell MCF-7 possibly due to the presence of kaemferitrin
Bioactivity Testing Results of Crude Extracts and Their Fractions.
-, inactive; na, not available; HSV, Herpes simplex virus; TB, tuberculosis; Pf, Plasmodium falciparum.IC50, half-maximal inhibitory concentration;
IC50 positive control: Ellipticine = 1.47 μg/mL against KB cell, 2.47 μg/mL against lung cancer NCI-H187, 1.83 μg/mL against vero cell; Tamoxifen = 6.13 μg/mL against breast cancer MCF-7; Mafloquine = 0.029 μg/mL against Plasmodium falciparum; Streptomycin = 0.156 μg/mL against Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Acyclovir = 7.86 μg/mL against HSV-1.
Conclusion
Studies on 4 Indonesian epiphytic medicinal plants, D. rigidula, H. formicarum, U. misaminensis, and C. schmidtii, successfully revealed 11 major constituents. Lung cancer cells NCI-H187 showed sensitivity against most of the crude methanol extracts and their subfractions with the exception of D. rigidula. The dichloromethane subfraction of U. misaminensis exerts cytotoxicity against KB-oral cancer cell, lung cancer cell NCI-H187, and breast cancer cell MCF-7.
Experimental
Plant Material
Epiphytic medicinal plant samples, D. rigudula, U. misaminensis, and C. schmidtii, were collected from Malabar forest surrounding Bondowoso, Indonesia during wet season on February 2010 and sample vouchers are deposited under accession codes DRL, UM, and BSp, respectively. Hynophytum formicarum was purchased from the Traditional Market at Klaten, Jawa Tengah-Indonesia in which the sample originated from West Papua-Indonesia. The voucher sample of H. formicarum was deposited under accession number HF. The Drynaria, Hydnophytum, and Usnea were identified at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jember Indonesia. The C. schmidtii was identified by Mr Heri Sujadmiko, a bryologist at Faculty of Biology, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. Samples were cleaned, washed, and cut drying under sun shade. The dried samples were then separately pulverized using a grinding machine.
Extraction and Constituent Isolation of Leaves of Drynaria rigidula
To leaf powder (500 g) was added MeOH (5.0 L) and the mixture stirred for 48 hours. The suspension was filtered and the supernatant vaccuum dried to produce crude leaves extract (48.1 g). Liquid-liquid fractionation from the leaves extract produced n-hexane (11.7307 g), DCM (2.3467 g), EtOAc (10.8527 g), and residual (22.9089 g) fractions.
The hexane fraction was prepared for gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis with samples (5 mg/mL) prepared by treating the solution with BSTFA (N,O-bis(trimetylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide) for 12 hours. The trimethylsilyl derivatives were then subjected to GC-MS and the resulting spectra compared with spectra in the NIST08 database. This revealed 3 major secondary metabolites, namely campesterol
Extraction and Constituent Isolation of Hydnophytum formicarum
A suspension of the whole plant powder (600 g) in MeOH (5.0 L) was stirred for 24 hours, filtered, and the supernatant vaccuum dried to produce dried extract (36.2 g). A portion of dried extract (10 g) was fractionated with n-hexane (601.0 mg), DCM (150.5 mg), EtOAc (3453.8 mg), and residue (3029.7 mg). The n-hexane fraction (601.0 mg) was subjected to flash silica column chromatography (2-cm diameter, 30-cm length) and elution starting with n-hexane, transitioning to n-hexane (0.2 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (9.5:0.5, 0.5 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (9:1, 0.1 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (8.5:1.5, 0.4 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (8:2, 0.3 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (7.5:2.5, 0.2 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (5:5, 0.1 L), n-hexane:EtOAc (2.5:7.5, 0.1 L), EtOAc (100 L), EtOAc:ACN (5:5, 0.1 L), ACN (0.1 L), ACN:MeOH:H2O (9:0.5:0.5, 0.1 L), and ACN:MeOH:H2O (8:1:1, 0.1 L) to produce 110 fractions. TLC analysis of the fractions allowed isolation of crystals of compound
Extraction and Constituent Isolation of Usnea misaminensis
Dried powder (200 g) was stirred with MeOH for 48 hours at room temperature and then filtered and the supernatant vaccuum dried to produce crude extract (16.6 g). Liquid-liquid fractionation of the rhizome extract produced n-hexane (1.28 g), DCM (3.26 g), and EtOAc (4.81 g), fractions along with a residue (1.45 g). The n-hexane fraction (0.2 g) was subjected to a short C18 column (2 × 4 cm) and eluted with EtOAc. To this EtOAc fraction was added dropwise water and the resulting precipitate was collected, vacuum dried, and redissolved in DCM (2 mL) and left allowing the formation of yellow crystals of usnic acid
Crystallographic Data of Compound 8 (Usnic Acid)
Crystal data. Compound
Crystallographic Data of Compound 9 (Salazinic Acid)
Crystal data. Compound
Extraction and Constituent Isolation of Calymperes schmidtii
A suspension of powdered of C. schmidtii whole plant (20 g) in MeOH (1 L) was stirred for 24 hours, filtered, and the filtrate concentrated to produce a dark green sticky semisolid (1.1 g). The crude extract in MeOH (100 mL) was liquid-liquid partitioned with n-hexane and both fractions were separately concentrated to produce an n-hexane fraction (360 mg) and a MeOH fraction (769 mg). A portion of the methanol fraction (250 mg) was applied into a short C18 silica column (1.5 × 5 cm) and was then eluted with MeOH (50 mL) to give a solution, which was concentrated to 20 mL and filtered through a HPLC sample filter (0.45 µm). Analysis by HPLC using a gradient elution from 100% of solvent A (0.1% TFA in H2O) to 0% of solvent A within 80 minutes (solvent B, 0.1% TFA in ACN) separated compounds
Bioactivity Testing
Antimalarial activity was determined against Plasmodium falciparum K1 based on the microculture radioisotope technique. 26 Cytotoxicity was tested against KB-oral cancer cell, lung cancer cell NCI-H187, breast cancer cell MCF7, and vero cells based on the resazurin microplate assay. The anti-TB assay utilized the Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra strain using a green fluorescent protein microplate assay. Antiviral activity was tested against herpes simplex virus type 1 using a green fluorescent protein assay. 27
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
A.S.N. thanks to University of Wollongong and University of Jember for research support.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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