Bovine mastitis: An appraisal of its alternative herbal cure.

Bovine mastitis is globally recognized as the most common and costly disease affecting dairy herds. The disease causes huge financial losses to dairy industries by reduced yield and milk quality, deaths and culling of affected cows and also by associated treatment costs. The disease occurs due to invasion of the mammary glands by pathogenic bacteria followed by their multiplication in the milk producing tissues. The most common treatment method available against bovine mastitis is the intra-mammary infusion of antibiotics. However, their use is associated with the problem of antimicrobial resistance. This scenario has made search for alternative treatment approaches necessary. Medicinal plants with their well-established history are an excellent natural product resource used as an alternative therapy. Antibacterial agents from plants can act as important sources of novel antibiotics, efflux pump inhibitors, compounds that target bacterial virulence or can be used in combination with existing drugs. The plants form an essential component of ethno-veterinary medicine used in the treatment of different diseases like bovine mastitis. This review article attempts to provide an overview of the different medicinal plants used in the treatment of bovine mastitis. Antimicrobial studies of these plant species and some of their isolated constituents have been reviewed in detail. It highlights the logic and precedence behind mining this important natural product resource. Our own research findings in this direction and future scope of research are also discussed briefly.

Isolation, characterization and HPLC quantification of compounds from Aquilegia fragrans Benth: Their in vitro antibacterial activities against bovine mastitis pathogens.

ETHNO-PHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The underground parts of Aquilegia fragrans are traditionally used for the treatment of wounds and various inflammatory diseases like bovine mastitis. However, there are no reports on the phytochemical characterization and antibacterial studies of A. fragrans. AIM OF THE STUDY: To isolate compounds from the methanol extract of the underground parts of A. fragrans and determine their antibacterial activity against the pathogens of bovine mastitis. The study was undertaken in order to scientifically validate the traditional use of A. fragrans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five compounds were isolated from the methanol extract of the underground parts of A. fragrans using silica gel column chromatography. Structural elucidation of the isolated compounds was done using spectral data analysis and comparison with literature. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the qualitative and quantitative determination of isolated compounds in the crude methanol extract. The methanol extract and isolated compounds were evaluated for antibacterial activities against mastitis pathogens using broth micro-dilution technique. RESULTS: The five isolated compounds were identified as (1) 2, 4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid methyl ester (2) ß-sitosterol (3) Aquilegiolide (4) Glochidionolactone-A and (5) Magnoflorine. A quick and sensitive HPLC method was developed for the first time for qualitative and quantitative determination of four isolated marker compounds from A. fragrans. The crude methanol extract and compound 5 exhibited weak antibacterial activities that varied between the bacterial species (MIC=500-3000 µg/ml). CONCLUSIONS: The above results show that the crude methanol extract and isolated compounds from A. fragrans exhibit weak antibacterial activities. Further phytochemical and pharmacological studies are required for proper scientific validation of the folk use of this plant species in the treatment of various inflammatory diseases like bovine mastitis.