Abstract

Medicinal plants are the oldest known source for treatment of disease. Using pharmaceutical plants and plant extracts have been at great attention. In this research, the antibacterial activity of the methanolic and aqueous extracts of three Iranian medicinal plant species namely Capparis spinosa L., Adiantum capillus-veneris L. and Sambucus ebulus L. were tested against six bacteria strains including (Staphylococcus aureus,Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values for each plant were determined by microdilution method. The maximum antimicrobial activity of aqueous extracts was exhibited by S. ebulus. The methanolic extract of S. ebulus had the best MIC values against S. epidermidis, S. aureus, B. subtilis and K. pneumonia (25, 50, 100 and 100 mg/ml, respectively) and the methanolic extract of A. capillus-veneris had the best MIC value against S. aureus and S. epidermidis (12.5 and 50 mg/ml) and the methanolic extract ofC. spinosa had the best MIC value against E. coli (100 mg/ml).

Key words: Sambucus ebulus, Adiantum capillus-veneris, Capparis spinosa,Antibacterial effects, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC).