Antimicrobial test in vitro of Rubus megalococcus Focke (morita de páramo) and Fucshia boliviana Carriere (bananito) ethanolic extracts against pathogens

Abstract

Currently, there's not a standardized method to evaluate the inhibitory capacity of microorganisms on plant extracts. However, simple, inexpensive, fast and effective bioassays have been developed to measure the antimicrobial activity. That's why, using the in vitro susceptibility technique (Kirby & Bauer 1994), we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of 30 µg of ethanol extract obtained from Rubus megalococcus and Fucshia boliviana against pathogens Streptococcus pyogenes, Candida albicans and Escherichia coli, to determine which extract showed more activity against the tested microorganisms. An analysis of variance was carried out by using a factorial model (Tukey HSD) evaluating these factors: plant extracts, microorganisms and analysis methods, we determined that must antimicrobial activity was obtained from the Fucshia boliviana flower. Candida albicans showed the highest inhibition percentage. On the other hand the Rubus megalococcus fruit extract showed the most significant activity and Streptococcus pyogenes was the most inhibited microorganism.