Effects of Plantago major leaf aqueous extracts against Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from wound infections

Abstract

Background: The use of herbal extracts is becoming more popular as a result of the rise in bacterial resistanceto conventional antibiotics. Plantago major is a commonherbal plant used in conventional medicine. It was well known to have a number of medicinal benefits. Aim: The currentstudy aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activityof aqueous extractof P. major leaves against Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from burn infections. Materials and Methods: One hundred and thirty five of P. aeruginosa were collected from hospitalized patients in Emergency hospital in Duhok city. The isolates were identified by routine methods. P. major leaves antibacterial activity were performed by using aqueous extract in serial dilutions with the concentrations of (100, 75, 50, 25, and 10 %) by agar well diffusion assay, also antibiotics susceptibility test were done by the disc diffusion method using Muller-Hinton agar medium. Results: Varied aqueous extractof P. major leaves concentrations showed differentinhibitory zones of P. aeruginosa. The inhibitory zone measured by the efficacy of the aqueous extract of P. major leaves on P. aeruginosa ranges fro m [6.8-16.4] mm in diameter.The zone of inhibition grew as extract concentration increased; P. aeruginosa was most inhibited by an extract conc entration of [100%] ethanolic extract, which exhibited a [16.4 mm] inhibition zone. Additionaly, the bacteria display ed a high level of resistance to the utilized antibiotics. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the replacement of chemical drugs with herbal extract could be effective in the elimination of bacterial growth.