Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinea Family Pinaceae; are plants indigenous to Al-Jabal Akhdar, Libya.
The aerial parts (needles and young stems) are known to contain volatile oils of important biologicalactivities. To our knowledge this is the first time to investigate the effect of different altitudes on thechemical composition, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of the plants. Two different altitudes for
each species were chosen represented by Sidi Alhamry (Ph-S) [high land, 830 meters above the sea level] and Alaslab (Ph-A) [low land, 75 meters above the sea level] for P.halepensis, while WerdamaPp-W [high land, 625meters above the sea level] and Al MansuraPp-M [low land,408 meters above the sea level] for P.pinea.
The antibiotic sensitivity of organisms used in this study was done using different classes of
antimicrobial agents to compare the results with the tested samples where each organism
revealing its unique pattern of sensitivity. The antimicrobial activities of the total ethanolic
extracts prepared from the aerial parts (needles and young stems) of Pinus halepensis and
Pinus pinea were investigated and revealed that Sidi el Hamry and Al Mansura exhibited the
strongest inhibition diameter against gram positive bacteria with maximum effect against
Micrococcus lutea, Mycobacterium phli and bacillus subtilis (36 mm, 33mm and 28 mm)
respectively exceeding most reference standard antibiotics. Gram negative bacteria were
mostly sensitive against Alaslab extract especially Escherichia coli with inhibition diameter of
(14 mm). The fungus Candida albicans was sensitive to Sidi el Hamry and Werdama extracts
with inhibition diameters of (10 mm and 9 mm). Three fractions (hexane, chloroform and
ethanol) from each extract were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity where they exhibited
weaker activity when compared to the total ethanolic extracts suggesting a synergistic effect
of the active constituents when combined. The cytotoxic activities of the total ethanolic
extracts were evaluated where the werdama position (Pinus pinea) showed the strongest
cytotoxic activity against both breast and colon cell lines MCF-7 and HCT-116 (IC 50 =
0.81µg/mL and 1.6 µg/mL) respectively.