Phytochemical Screening and In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Methanol Extract of Thymelaea hirsuta and Anacyclus pyrethrum from Algeria against Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria Associated with Skin Infections

Abstract

Medicinal plants constitute a potential source of bioactive molecules which can provide a new source of antimicrobial agents. This study aims to evaluate the antibacterial activity against multidrug resistant bacteria associated with skin infections and to screen the phytochemical composition of Thymelaea hirsuta and Anacyclus pyrethrum from Algeria. For this purpose, four multi-drug resistant bacteria associated with skin infections were isolated from pus samples compared to Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 27853 were used. The antibacterial activity of the methanol extracts of both plants evaluated at two different concentrations (200 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL) using the agar disc diffusion method revealed that all strains tested showed susceptibility to Thymelaea hirsuta methanol extract with the values recorded for inhibition zone diameters ranging from 11.00 to 25.00 mm at both concentrations: 100 mg/mL and 200 mg/mL. However, the methanol extract of Anacyclus pyrethrum showed an antibacterial activity only against the clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (Staphylococcus aureus 1 at the two concentrations 200 mg/mL, 100 mg/mL; Staphylococcus aureus 2 and Escherichia coli ATCC259 at the concentration of 200 mg/mL). The phytochemical screening of methanol extracts revealed the presence of flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, tannins, quinones and terpanoids; and the absence of alkaloids and anthraquinones in both extracts. However, coumarin was found only in methanol extract of Thymelaea hirsuta. This finding showed a high efficiency of Thymelaea hirsuta methanol extract against multi-drug resistant bacteria associated with skin infections mainly staphylococcus aureus.