Abstract
In this study, five Egyptian species were tested for their in vitro antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial screening was carried out via disc diffusion method toward four strains of the clinical antibiotic resistant pathogens including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. Among the methanolic extracts screened, Azadirachta indica, Tectona grandis and Ficus sycomorus showed a broad antimicrobial spectrum against three strains with inhibition zones between 13-27 mm followed by Gmelina arborea and Ficus microcarpa with inhibition zones between 11-17 mm, all plants showed no activity against Aspergillus niger except Gmelina arborea with inhibition zones 12 mm. Penicillin G was used as positive control at concentration of 100 µg/disc with inhibition zones (Staphylococcus aureus 28mm, Escherichia coli 22mm, Candida albicans 25mm and Aspergillus niger 0mm). Owing to the high activity of the methanolic extracts, these extracts were defatted via petroleum ether then were fractionated via; chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The n-butanol of Azadirachta indica was the most active against Candida albicans (25 mm), ethyl acetate of Ficus sycomorus against Staphylococcus aureus (18 mm), n-butanol of Gmelina arborea against Staphylococcus aureus (17 mm) and n-butanol of Ficus microcarpa against Staphylococcus aureus (15 mm). These results suggest that the tested plants may be effective potential sources of natural antimicrobials, and are potent inhibitors of antibiotic resistant pathogens.
Highlights
Since the coming of antibiotics in the 1950s, the use of medicinal plants and herbs derivatives and isolates as a source of antimicrobial agents has been practically nonexistent (Marjorie, 1999)
Among the methanolic extracts screened, Azadirachta indica, Tectona grandis and Ficus sycomorus showed a broad antimicrobial spectrum against three strains with inhibition zones between 13-27 mm followed by Gmelina arborea and Ficus microcarpa with inhibition zones between 11-17 mm, all plants showed no activity against Aspergillus niger except Gmelina arborea with inhibition zones 12 mm
Yield (%) of the extracts and fractions In our current study there is a remarkable variation in the yield percentages of crud 85% methanolic extracts and their derived sub-fractions of the five species under investigations, and such phenomena may be return to the variation in nature of the chemical constituents to be extracted in each plant (Table 1)
Summary
Since the coming of antibiotics in the 1950s, the use of medicinal plants and herbs derivatives and isolates as a source of antimicrobial agents has been practically nonexistent (Marjorie, 1999). Plants have been used for thousands of years to flavor and conserve food, to treat health disorders and to prevent diseases including epidemics The knowledge of their healing properties has been transmitted over the centuries within and among human communities. The past three decades have seen a dramatic increase in microbial resistance to antimicrobial agents Such situation stimulates the development of new anti-microbial agents in order to treat the infectious disease in an effective manner. This matter continued to an era to identify the potential antimicrobial agent from the natural resources. The previous reported studies indicated that, the tested plants showed wide range of biological activities and numerous bioactive secondary metabolites were isolated from various parts of the selected species which may be responsible for such activities (Ephraim et al, 2008; Abdel-Hameed et al, 2009; Mortada et al, 2009; Mortada et al, 2010; Mortada et al, 2011; El-Sayed et al, 2011; Ghareeb et al, 2013; Ghareeb et al, 2014; Mosad et al, 2014; Shoeb et al, 2014)
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