Antibacterial and antifungal screening of four medicinal plants

Objective: To describe the ethnopharmacology study and screening of the antimicrobial activity of hydroalcoholic and chloroform extracts of the four plants Ceratonia siliqua (C. siliqua), Salvadora persica, Aloe vera and Anastatica hierochuntica. Methods: The antimicrobial activity was determined using diffusion disk and solid agar dilution methods against 12 bacteria, according to the recommendations of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Results: The ethnopharmacology study provided useful information about how the parts used for the preparation of extracts. The extracts obtained by maceration reveal variable yields depending on the polarity of the solvent used. The higher yields were those extracts obtained by the hydroalcoholic solvents. The Anastatica hierochuntica and C. siliqua extracts were by far the most interesting and exerted significant antibacterial activity (minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.07 to 0.13 mg/mL). Conclusions: These results suggest that C. siliqua could serve as an alternative source of antibacterial agents for human protection against infectious diseases