ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF THUJA ORIENTALIS IN COMBINATION WITH CIPROFLOXACIN AGAINST PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To compare the combined antimicrobial effect of Thuja orientalis and Ciprofloxacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro samples. METHODS: In-vitro antibacterial activity of plant-extracts was evaluated alone and in combination with ciprofloxacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa using disc-diffusion susceptibility assay (Kirby Bauer method) and minimum inhibitory concentration (96 well broth microdilution method) following CLSI guidelines. Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical strains were collected from Rehman Medical Institute (RMI) and Northwest General Hospital Peshawar, Pakistan and ATCC strains (no.9721) of this bacterium were collected from Agriculture University Peshawar. The organism was tested six times with crude extract and fractionation with different solvents such as n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol at concentrations of 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30 and 36 mg/ml. The mean MIC and FICI (fractional inhibitory concentration index) was obtained to report the synergism. The data were analysed using SPSS version-21. RESULTS: In combination, methanolic crude extract, chloroform and butanol fraction showed synergistic effect at all tested concentrations against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9721 and clinical) except with 1, 4, 16 mg/ml concentrations. Ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions shows indifference and synergistic effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9721 and clinical) at different concentrations. The fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) ranged from 1.24 to 3.24 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa alone and in combination with ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSION: By disc diffusion method, this study shows synergistic effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in combination with ciprofloxacin. However, through minimum inhibitory concentration method, it shows antagonism and indifference but no synergistic effect against different fractions of plant.