In vitro Antibacterial Activity of Ficus carica L. (Moraceae) from Libya

Aims: The aim of the study was to assess the antibacterial effect of Ficus carica extracts against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, & Staphylococcus aureus.

Study Design: Evaluation of antimicrobial activity using Cup-cut agar method.

Place and Duration of Study: Microbiology Research Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tripoli, from October 2015 to March 2016.

Methodology: The leaves and stem part extracts of Ficus carica plant were prepared using maceration method. The antibacterial activities of the extracts were evaluated using Cup-cut agar method to determinate inhibitory zone diameters in millimeters of the plant extracts against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The measurement of exponential bacterial growth curves was used to determine the type of growth pattern spectrophotometrically at 600 nm. Furthermore, plate count methods were also used to enumerate the bacterial count and to determine the percentage of inhibition as well as IC50.

Results: The results of this study showed that Ficus carica extracts used, exhibited antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. The maximum zone of inhibition against S. aureus (27± 0.04mm, p<0.05) of methanol extract of stem part, while the minimum zone of inhibition was against Klebsiella pneumoniae (6 ± 0.04 mm) for methanol extract of leaf. The methanol extracts of stem part inhibited the S. aureus (27 ± 0.04 mm p<0.05), more than methanol extract of leaf (S. aureus 15 ± 0.06 mm). Latex had lower IC50 (1.69 ± 0.5w/v%) against S. aureus than P. aeruginosa (3.54 ± 0.2 w/v%); E. coli (8.24 ± 0.1w/v%), Leaf extract (0.79 ± 0.1 mg/ml) and stem part extract (0.204 ± 0.08mg/ml) against S. aureus.

Conclusion: Ficus carica methanolic extract was more effective against most of the tested bacteria than n-hexane extract, the stem part extract was more active as antibacterial than leaf extract against most of the tested bacteria except in case of Klebsiella peneumonia the leaf methanolic extract only inhibited it at zone of inhibition (6 ± 0.04 mm), while the n-hexane extract of leaf and stem part methanolic and n-hexane extract had no effect at all. Thereby, our results indicate that leaf and stem part of Ficus carica plant also latex has a strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative tested bacteria.