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Online ISSN : 2349-8080 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorinchiefijcrbp@gmail.com |
2Biochemistry Immunology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco
The research was undertaken to determine the possible synergistic interactions between any two antibacterial agents; Mentha pulegium essential oil (MPEO), honey and bacteriocin-like inhibitory substance (BLIS) E204 against Escherichia coli K12 and Listeria monocytogenes CECT 4032. The antibacterial activity was evaluated using the broth micro-dilution method, and the interaction was determined by the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) indexes. The results obtained show that the BLIS E204 and MPEO possess higher antibacterial activity at low concentrations against both strains tested with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 0.125μg/ml and 0.5v/v against L. monocytogenes respectively and of 0.125mg/ml and 0.5v/v against E. coli, respectively. However, application of the combined binary mixtures showed a partially synergistic effect between honey and MPEO against E. coli K12 and a highly synergistic effect against L. monocytogenes increasing the antibacterial activity. The combination of BLIS E204 and MPEO gave no interaction (neutral), while that between BLIS E204 and honey generated antagonism effect thereby reducing the antibacterial activity. These results suggest that the mixture of honey with MPEO at low concentrations could be a promising alternative to replace synthetic antimicrobial agents and lead to further research on natural products that could improve the antibacterial properties of honey
