Anti-bacterial, and antibiotic drugs are currently at a point where they are becoming increasingly ineffective. As such medicines to take their place have become a hot topic of research lately. One of the ways that it is being researched is in a multi-step or multi-component remedy instead of a one drug treatment. The driving force behind the process would be synergy between the substances being used to create the treatment. This method of treatment has been well documented and well tested within the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) system. TCM is a collection of combinatorial remedies that usually consist of at least 3 components, often a number of herbs and a mineral. Using that premise this study was built. Antibacterial activity of five herbs (Garlic, Ginger, Echinacea, Oregano, and Turmeric) is presented in this study. Each of these herbs has different active ingredients and mechanisms of antibacterial activity which make them all potential candidates for this study in synergy. Various combinations were tested similar to the TCM method of treatments. Each of the five herbs have been separately extracted using a soxhlet extractor using solvents of dissimilar polarity to separate polar and nonpolar active ingredients. Combinations of two and three of these extracts were tested on Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) using diffusion methods. The ring of inhibition was measured around each of these combinations as well as positive and negative controls. The effectiveness of these combinations is presented here.

Anti-bacterial synergy of medicinal herbs

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.