Evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy of ethanolic extract of Panax ginseng against Periodontal pathogens: An invitro study

Abstract

The present experimental study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract of Panax ginseng on the most common periodontal pathogens, Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) Prevotella intermedia (Pi), Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa). Ethanolic extract of Panax ginseng was prepared using maceration technique. Thus obtained extract was tested for its antimicrobial efficacy against 4 periodontal pathogens by means of evaluating the Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and time kill curve analysis. MIC was carried out by using serial dilution method. MBC was assessed by incubating the cultures of microorganisms with the same drug concentrations as MIC. Time kill curve (TKC) was analysed by incubating the organisms in anaerobic chamber, to evaluate the timely declination of growth rate. The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of Panax ginseng was both bacteriostatic and bactericidal for Pg and Pi at 0.8 µg/ml and for Fn at 50 µg/ml. But for Aa, it was only bacteriostatic at 25 µg/ml but not bactericidal in nature. Also, Pg showed no growth after 10 minutes, but the growth of Pi, Fn and Aa was not inhibited even after incubation for 2 hours. From this in-vitro study we conclude that the ethanolic extract of panax ginseng showed antimicrobial efficacy against all the test microorganisms, such as Pg, Fn, Pi and Aa. Thus these results can be used to continue with further invitro, invivo research and in day to day clinical treatment of chronic periodontitis.