| Sumario: | Ethnopharmacological relevance Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae) is a traditional medicinal plant used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, such as gastritis. Helicobacter pylori have been described as the etiological agent of gastritis, peptic ulcer, as well as gastric adenocarcinoma. 50% of the world's population is infected with this bacterium and the current therapy fails due to the increment in antibiotic resistance; therefore, it is necessary to find new approaches to control H. pylori infection, either by its eradication or by preventing the bacterial colonization. Aim of the study To investigate the effect of P. hysterophorus extracts on H. pylori growth and upon its colonization-related factors. Materials and methods Five different polarity extracts from roots and aerial parts of P. hysterophorus were evaluated in vitro against H. pylori growth by the broth dilution method. Anti-colonization activities were determined as follows: motility in soft agar plates, urease activity by ammonia colorimetrical quantification, and adherence of FITC labeled H. pylori to AGS cells by fluorometrical measurement. Results Organic extracts inhibited H. pylori growth. Particularly, the dichloromethane extract from roots showed a MIC of 15.6 µg/ml while the aqueous extracts showed low or null activity. There is a direct correlation between antibacterial activity and inhibition of motility. Urease activity was partially inhibited by organic extracts, at best 46%, except for the roots dichloromethane extract which reached 74% of inhibition with 500 µg/ml (IC 50 =136.4 µg/ml). Plant extracts inhibited adherence in different ranges but the dichloromethane–methanol ones possessed the highest effect, with a 70% maximal inhibition at 1 mg/ml. Conclusion The results indicate that some P. hysterophorus extracts have various biological activities that could act synergistically against H. pylori. This work contributes to the ethnomedical knowledge of this species and underlines the potential of some organic extracts as a good source for the isolation of bioactive compounds.
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