STUDY OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF DRY EXTRACT FROM MAGONIA LEAVES

Abstract

SUMMARY. Today, the global health care system is faced with the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic microorganisms. This phenomenon, caused by the irrational and excessive use of antibiotics, leads to an increase in morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases. The use of existing synthetic antibiotics is often associated with the risk of toxicity, allergic reactions and disruption of the microbiome, so the search for effective, new and multifunctional antimicrobial agents of natural origin becomes one of the key tasks of modern microbiology and pharmacy. Despite the available data on the pharmacological activity of Mahonia aquifolium, studies of its antimicrobial properties remain insufficiently studied and fragmentary, which was the reason for choosing this plant as the object of our research and further in-depth identification of its potential antimicrobial action.

The aim – to determine the presence of antimicrobial activity of dry extract from leaves of Mahonia aquifolium.

Material and Methods. The object of the research was a 10% aqueous solution of the extract from the leaves of Mahonia aquifolium. Two museum strains of gram-positive cocci – Staphylococcus aureus B 918, Staphylococcus epidermidis B 919, two strains of gram-negative bacteria – Escherichia coli B 926, Klebsiella pneumoniae B 920, as well as a gram-positive spore culture of Bacillus subtilis B 819 were used as test cultures. The antifungal effect was studied against Candida albicans B 2681. The determination of the bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect of the studied sample was carried out on liquid nutrient media (sugar MPB) by the method of multiple (serial) dilutions. The antimicrobial effect of Mahonia extract was also determined by the agar well diffusion method on solid culture media: sugar MPA, blood MPA, Endo medium, Sabouraud agar.

Results. Research results have shown that the dry extract from the leaves of Mahonia aquifolium has a wide spectrum of antibacterial activity. The native solution of the extract showed bactericidal and antifungal effects against all test cultures, except for spore-bearing B. subtilis, which gave growth in the presence of the native test sample and its dilutions. At a 1:2 dilution, the bactericidal effect was also detected in relation to most test cultures, with the exception of S. aureus, where we detected a bacteriostatic effect. A 1:4 dilution of the test sample has a bacteriostatic effect.

It was established by the agar well diffusion method that the bacterial strains of S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans were sensitive to the native solution of mahonia extract (the diameters of the zone of inhibition of the growth of cultures were 20.2±0.7 mm, 20.8±0.7 mm and 18.9±0.7 mm, respectively), and S. epidermidis and K. pneumoniae are moderately sensitive (the diameters of the zone of inhibition of the growth of cultures were 15.8±0.8 mm and 15.6±0.4 mm, respectively). The spore-bearing culture of B. subtilis is resistant to the biologically active substances of the extract of Mahonia aquifolium.

Conclusions. 1. It has been experimentally established that the dry extract from the leaves of Mahonia aquifolium shows an antibacterial effect against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi of the genus Candida.
2. A more pronounced effect of the dry extract from the leaves of the Mahonia aquifolium was found in relation to the reference strains of S. aureus, E. coli, C. albicans, moderate sensitivity in S. epidermidis and K. pneumoniae. The spore-bearing culture of bacilli is resistant to the studied extract.