The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antimicrobial
potential of aqueous and ethanol extracts of Thymbra
spicata L. (Lamiaceae), Nepeta curviflora Boiss. and
Paronychia argentea Lam. (Caryophyllaceae) against six
Gram negative bacteria and one Gram positive bacterium.
Agar well diffusion method was adopted to examine the
antimicrobial activity of all plant extracts being studied.
Out of the seven bacterial isolates, a clinical isolate of
Proteus mirabilis (II) was the most susceptible one for all
the examined plant extracts except for N. curviflora ethanol
extract. Moreover, the ethanol extract of P. argentea
exhibited the highest antimicrobial potential against most
of the tested bacteria except for Klebsiella pneumoniae
and Escherichia coli. On the other hand, all investigated
ethanol plant extracts displayed antibacterial effect against
the other clinical isolate of Proteus mirabilis (I), which
showed resistance against the broad spectrum antibiotic
Gentamycin. Further more, micro-broth dilution method
was used to measure the minimum inhibitory concentration
(MIC) of the effective plant extracts. The examined
ethanol plant extracts demonstrated higher MIC values
than the aqueous extracts ranging from 1.56 to 50 mg/ml.
Accordingly, the obtained results form the platform for
further phytochemical and pharmacological studies which
are invited to purify and characterize the active ingredient
(s) of the studied plant species by the future focus on their
extracts fractionation in hope of identifying the active
components. 

Conference Title

Scientific and Research Day of Biotechnology Application and the Community, Palestine Polytechnic University

Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

March 21, 2013 - March 21, 2013

Conference Sponsor

Palestine Polytechnic University