Prevalence of antimicrobial fungal metabolites in Hydrastis canadensis crude extracts

Goldenseal (Hydrastis Canadensis L. Ranunculaceae) is a plant used in Native American traditional medicine to treat infection. This plant has been shown by our laboratory to harbor endophytic fungi that produce antimicrobial secondary metabolites. The aim of this study was to determine whether antimicrobial fungal metabolites could be detected in the crude extracts of H. canadensis. A series of extracts were prepared in methanol and subjected to liquid-liquid partitioning to remove fats and sugars. A second extraction technique, using aqueous ethanol, was also employed to improve relevance of this study to the botanical dietary supplements industry. Investigations to identify fungal metabolites from these extracts using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry are ongoing.