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Antimicrobial Activity of Extracts from the Leaves of Marrubium vulgare
Author(s) -
Cravens Ashley,
Krzysiak Amanda
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.03598
Subject(s) - antimicrobial , antibiotics , traditional medicine , modern medicine , medicine , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Natural products have served as powerful therapeutics against pathogenic bacteria since the golden age of antibiotics of the mid‐20th century. In the United States, antibiotics are a key component of modern medicine and are one of the top written prescriptions every year. However, overuse and misuse of antibiotics has led to an increasing frequency of antibiotic‐resistant infections. These infections are difficult and expensive to treat, often resulting in increased length of illness, hospital stays, and mortality rates. This clearly demonstrates that new antibiotics are critical for modern medicine. Murrubium vulgare (White Horehound) is a shrub found in the Appalachia region that has been used in herbal medicine to treat many pulmonary aliments as an expectorant, tonic, and emmenagogue. Previous studies of this plant and its commercial products have indicated that it may contain antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The aim of this study is to determine if whole leaf extracts of M. vulgare contain antimicrobial properties. Five different plants were sampled for this project. The leaves were dried and then underwent extract in 95% ethanol in a 1:10 (m/v) ratio. The solvent was removed using a rotavapor at 60°C and hot plate evaporation. The crude product was left in a desiccator until constant weight was achieved. The crude samples were analyzed to characterize the different classes of natural products present. The crude extracts were dissolved in 5% DMSO at different ratios. The disk diffusion method was applied to determine the antimicrobial activity. Support or Funding Information Bellarmine University, Student Government Association.