Antibacterial Activity of Extracts from Five Medicinal Plants and Their Formula against Bacteria That Cause Chronic Wound Infection
Pornthep Temrangsee BSc*, Sumalee Kondo PhD**, Arunporn Itharat PhD***
Affiliation : * Student of Master of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine Program, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand ** Division of Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology in Medicine, Department of Preclinical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, Pathumthani, Thailand *** Department of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, Pathumthani, Thailand
Background : Chronic wound is caused by various factors such as chemotherapy, gene damage, treatment with steroids,
diabetes mellitus, renal failure, blood pressure, infection and nutritional factors. One of the most common causes is bacterial
infection. Antibacterial activity of several herbal plants has been reported.Thai medicinal plants which possess biological
activities are potential to develop an alternative treatment of bacterial infection.
Objective : To study efficiency of extracts from medicinal plants and their formula against bacteria that cause chronic wound
infection.
Material and Method: Extraction of Thai medicinal plants including Curcuma longa Linn, Rhinacanthus nasutus Linn,
Garcinia mangostana Linn, Caesalpinia sappan Linn and Centellia asiatica Linn was performed by maceration with 95%
ethanol and decoction followed by freeze dry. Formulation was conducted by varying the ratio of each components. Antibacterial
activity were determined disk diffusion and broth dilution against Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Results : Ethanolic extracts exhibited better antibacterial activity against tested strains than water extracts. Antibacterial
activity of Caesalpinia sappan Linn. against S. aureus and MRSA showed the most effective with MIC value of 0.625 mg/ml.
One of the five different formulas which contained two times proportion of C. sappan revealed that this formula was able to
inhibit all tested strains with the MIC ranging between 0.156 mg/ml and 10 mg/ml.
Conclusion : C. sappan is the most effective herbal plant. The formula with two times proportion of C. sappan is potentially
best formula for development of medicinal product of chronic wound infection. The potential active compound of C. sappan
is suggested for further investigation of antimicrobial activity and other biological properties.
Keywords : Antibacterial activity, Curcuma longa Linn, Rhinacanthus nasutus Linn, Garcinia mangostana Linn, Caesalpinia sappan Linn, Centellia asiatica, Chronic wound infection
