Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Streptomyces species from soils of three different cold sites in the Fez-Meknes region Morocco.

The increasing demand for new bioactive compounds to combat the evolution of multi-drug resistance (MDR) requires research on microorganisms in different environments in order to identify new potent molecules. In this study, initial screening regarding the antimicrobial activity of 44 Actinomycetes isolates isolated from three soil samples from three different extremely cold sites in Morocco was carried out. Primary and secondary screening were performed against Candida albicans ATCC 60,193, Escherichia coli ATCC 25,922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25,923, Bacillus cereus ATCC 14,579, other clinical MDR bacteria, and thirteen phytopathogenic fungi. Based on the results obtained, 11 active isolates were selected for further study. The 11microbial isolates were identified based on morphological and biochemical characters and their molecular identification was performed using 16S rRNA sequence homology. The UV-visible analysis of dichloromethane extracts of the five Streptomyces sp. Strains that showed high antimicrobial and antioxidant (ABTS 35.8% and DPPH 25.6%) activities revealed the absence of polyene molecules. GC-MS analysis of the dichloromethane extract of E23-4 as the most active strain revealed the presence of 21 volatile compounds including Pyrrolopyrazine (98%) and Benzeneacetic acid (90%). In conclusion, we studied the isolation of new Streptomyces strains to produce new compounds with antimicrobial and antioxidant activities in a cold and microbiologically unexplored region of Morocco. Furthermore, this study has demonstrated a significant (P < 0.0001) positive correlation between total phenolic and flavonoid contents and antioxidant capacity, paving the way for the further characterization of these Streptomyces sp. isolates for their optimal use for anticancer, antioxidant, and antimicrobial purposes.

Herbal medicine used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the Rif, North of Morocco.

Background: Since the dawn of time, Moroccans have used medicinal plants as a popular remedy to treat a wide range of human and cattle health issues. Nonetheless, very little research has been conducted in the past to record and disseminate indigenous ethnopharmacological knowledge adequately. This study was conducted in the Rif and attempted to identify medicinal plants used by indigenous people to treat cardiovascular problems and the ethnomedicinal knowledge linked with them. Methods: The ethnobotanical study was carried out in the Moroccan Rif area over 2 years, from 2016 to 2018. We questioned 520 traditional herbalists and consumers of these herbs in total. The gathered data were examined and contrasted using quantitative ethnobotanical indicators such as family importance value (FIV), the relative frequency of citation (RFC), plant part value (PPV), fidelity level (FL), and informant consensus factor (ICF). Results: The findings analysis revealed the presence of 33 plant species classified into 20 families, with the Poaceae dominating (7 species). Regarding disorders treated, the category of cardiac arrhythmias has the greatest ICF (0.98). The study discovered that the leaves were the most often utilized portion of the plants (PPV = 0.353) and that the most frequently used preparation was a decoction (31%). Conclusions: The current study's findings revealed the presence of indigenous ethnomedicinal knowledge of medicinal plants in the Moroccan Rif to treat cardiovascular illnesses. Further phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological investigations should be conducted to identify novel drugs from these documented medicinal plants.