Through an ecological perspective, bacteria and fungi can be seen as pertinent factors in maintaining the cycle of nutrients through ecosystems. Despite this role, bacteria and fungi are also known to be hazardous, opportunistic pathogens liable for numerous diseases that affect humans, animals and plants.  Aiming to identify effective medicinal extracts and essential oils, antimicrobial assays were performed to find possible agents possessing inhibiting components to kill various microbial strains, including Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger, and Candida albicans.  After initial screening  and repetitive trials to detect possible inhibiting samples, further analysis through GC-MS analyzing and column separation were performed to identify individual components causing effective inhibition. Effective essential oils were ran through GC-MS to possibly identify components making up the inhibiting factor, while column separation was used to separate and possibly identify components compiling the effectual medicinal extract.   Data collected identified, Euphorbiceae as an effective inhibitor of B.cereus; frankincense egyptian as an inhibitor of E.coli, C. albicans ,  and B.cereus; Pogosteman cabin as an highly effective inhibitor of P. aeruginosa ;and  Counanga odorata as an inhibitor of S. aureus. Through preparative column chromatographic separation of  Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifolia (Euphorbiaceae), a South African medicinal plant extract,  and further bioactivity screenings of collected super fractions, several components were found to be effective, although none of them were individually identified or characterized. Results of GC-MS testing on effective essential oils, revealed their constituents that make up the essential oil, however the active compound of inhibition was not identified.  Identification of bioactive components in Euphorbiceae super-fractions and isolation of effective inhibitors in commercial oils is viewed as next step to finding a possible agent suitable for pharmaceutical use.

Developing an antimicrobial assay on South African medicinal extracts and essential oils

245th National Meeting (2013)

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