Antimicrobial activity of lawsonia inermis extracts against skin pathogens / Umi Hairun Anis Ismail

Resistance antibiotic against microorganism is an emerging issue in health care world nowadays. This creates an urgency for discovery of new antimicrobial agents. The use of medicinal plant as natural source has taken over the research world to overcome the drug resistance infectious diseases. In this present study antimicrobial activity of Lawsonia inermis extracts is investigated against bacteria of the skin. Traditional folks of Africa, Asia and Middle East countries ever since have been using this plant in treating skin infections. Four microorganisms including two Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and two Gram-negative bacteria (Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) which are the common bacteria found causing infection treated with aqueous and ethanol extracts of Lawsonia inermis. Antimicrobial activity of the microorganisms is determined by antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) by using disc diffusion method and followed by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using broth microdilution method to know the minimum concentration in which the bacteria can be inhibited by the extract. To confirmed MIC, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) is established. MBC is determined at the dilution which 99.9% of the organism is dead. Lawsonia inermis extract showed significant antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The largest zone of inhibition diameter displayed by S. epidermidis, 16.8 mm (±1.04) in aqueous extract and 23.0 mm (±1.03) in ethanol extract. The minimum value of MIC and MBC for different bacterial strain range from 15.63 µg/ml to 125 µg/ml. in conclusion, the present study proved that Lawsonia inermis can be use as alternative from natural sources to replace the existing antimicrobial agents with less side effects towards the consumers.