Abstract
Previous studies have revealed the numerous biological activities of the fruits of Illicium verum; however, the activities of its leaves and twigs have remained undiscovered. The study aimed to investigate the phytochemical components and antibacterial activity of the various extracts from the leaves and twigs of Illicium verum. The herbal extracts were prepared by supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE) and 95% ethanol extraction, followed by partition extraction based on solvent polarity. Analysis of antimicrobial activity was conducted through the usage of nine clinical antibiotic- resistant isolates, including Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. Among the tested samples, the SFE extracts exhibited broader and stronger antibacterial activities against the test strains, with a range of MIC between 0.1–4.0 mg/mL and MBC between 0.2–4.5 mg/mL. Observations made through scanning electron microscopy revealed potential mechanism of the antimicrobial activities involved disruption of membrane integrity of the test pathogens. Evaluation of the chemical composition by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry indicated the presence of anethole, anisyl aldehyde, anisyl acetone and anisyl alcohol within the SFE extracts, demonstrating significant correlations with the antibacterial activities observed. Therefore, the leaves and twigs of Illicium verum hold great potential in being developed as new natural antibacterial agents.
Highlights
Due to the rapid development of medical technology, many antibiotics have been developed to increase human life expectancy
The results revealed that the extracts of leaves and twigs of I. verum exhibit bactericide abilities that may enable it to be developed as natural antibiotics against clinical antibiotic resistant pathogens
Numerous literature reports have demonstrated that I. verum fruits exert significant antimicrobial activity against various different types of microorganism while the main component, transanithole, plays a critical role in various bioactivities observed from the fruit [10,11,12,13]
Summary
Due to the rapid development of medical technology, many antibiotics have been developed to increase human life expectancy. There has been a ubiquitous emergence and dissemination of medically important multidrug-resistant microbial strains throughout the world, raising public health concerns in many countries, including those that are developed, developing, and underdeveloped [1,2]. Staphylococcus aureus (Sa), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) and Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) are clinically important patho gens that have contributed significantly to worldwide nosocomial infections [3]. These bacterial strains were reported to possess high levels of resistance towards many classes of antibiotics. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii are the bacterial strains that exhibit the strongest antibiotic resistance [5]
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