Antibacterial and modulatory effect of Stryphnodendron rotundifolium.

CONTEXT

Stryphnodendron rotundifolium Mart. (Leguminosae), a tree in Northeast Brazil (Chapada do Araripe), is used in popular medicine to treat different processes such as inflammation and infectious diseases, mainly caused by bacterial pathogens.

OBJECTIVE

This study determined the modulatory and antimicrobial activity of the hydroethanol extract of dried stem bark, the most used form of this natural product, as a remedy by the traditional communities, against standard and clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The antibacterial and modulatory activities of the hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves were obtained by maceration/hydrodistillation method and assayed by microdilution.

RESULTS

In the microbiological assays, growth inhibition was demonstrated by this extract against the bacterial strains tested, with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 512 μg/mL. However, when a subinhibitory concentration (MIC/8 = 64 μg/mL) was combined with conventional antimicrobial drugs (gentamicin, kanamycin, amikacin and neomycin), the extract showed a potentiating effect, reducing the MIC for all drugs assayed in a range between 312.5 and 2.4 μg/mL.

CONCLUSIONS

We indicate that the extract of S. rotundifolium showed potential synergistic antibiotic activity. With the results obtained, these extracts proved to be a promising source of antibacterial and modulatory agents.