Antibacterial and hemolytic activities of different extracts of Amsonia orientalis Decne (Apocynaceae)

In the current study, the antibacterial activities of the crude extracts (leaf and stem chloroform and methanol; leaf hexane, acetone, deionized water and ethanol; stem deionized water) of Amsonia orientalis Decne. (Blue Star) were investigated against 17 different strains of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. To evaluate the antibacterial and hemolitic activities of extracts standard antibiotic discs and human erythrocytes were used, respectively. The antibacterial activity was determed in the all extracts, except the hexane extracts of the leaves. It was observed that Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Legionella pneumophila ATCC 33152 and L. pneumophila serogroup (SG) 2-14 are the most susceptible bacteria to the different extracts, while Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9327, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 10541 and Proteus mirabilis are resistant bacteria. It was determined that chloroform (leaf and stem), hexane (leaf) and deionized water (stem) extracts did not show hemolytic activity, while ethanol (leaf) (≥5 mg/ml), methanol (stem and leaf) (≥10 mg/ml), acetone (leaf) (≥10 mg/ml) and deionized water (leaf) (≥20 mg/ml) extracts showed hemolytic activity. Key words: Amsonia orientalis, Antibacterial activity, Hemolytic activity, Plant extract. *Corresponding Author: Elif Ozlem ARSLAN AYDOĞDU (e-mail: eoarslan@istanbul.edu.tr ) (Received: 01.03.2012 Accepted: 21.09.2012)