Evaluation of antimicrobial effects of three traditional medicinal plants from Iran

There is growing interest in use of plants as natural antimicrobial agents because they do not induce antibiotic resistance which is usually happened with the synthetic antibiotics. Therefore, there is a need to develop alternative antimicrobial drugs for the treatment of infection diseases from various sources such as medicinal plants (1).

The antimicrobial effects of different fractions of seed extract of Securigera securidaca L., fresh petal of Rosa damascena Mill. and aerial parts of Tripleurospermum disciforme Sch.Bip. extract were examined against four gram positive and four gram negative bacteria and 2 fungi, which were obtained from Department of Drug and Food Control, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The seed of Securigera securidaca, petals of Rosa damascena and top flowered of Tripleurospermum disciforme were collected in September, May and July 2009 around the Fars, Gilan and Tehran Provinces of Iran, respectively. The antibacterial and antifungal activity were studied by cup plate diffusion method as described by Warnock DW (2) and Soybean Casein Digest Agar and Saburouad Dextrose Agar were used as medium for the growth of bacterial and fungal strains, respectively. The petroleum ether and chloroform fractions of S. securidaca showed antibacterial activities against Staphyloccus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while methanol fraction had no antibacterial effects. R. damascena extract had antibacterial activities against Bacillus cereus, Staphyloccus aureus, Staphyloccus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. T. disciforme extract demonstrated antibacterial effects against Staphyloccus aureus and Staphyloccus epidermidis. All the fractions of plants had no antifungal activities.

References: 1-Berahou A, Auhmani A, Fdil N, Benharref A, Jana M, Gadhi CA (2007)J Ethnopharmacol 112: 426–429

2-Warnock DW (1991) Methods with antifungal drugs In: Evans EG and Richardson MD. (Eds.) Medical Mycology: A Practical Approach. IRL Press, Oxford University Press. 179–200.