Abstract

IN VITRO ANTI- BACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ETHANOL EXTRACT OF ZINGIBER OFFICINALE (ZINGIBERACEAE) COMBINED WITH AMOXYCILLIN AND CEFIXIME

Mohamed Mirghani*, Eman Alameen Mohamed, Shimaa Ibrahim Ahmed and Tahjud Hamed Gasmelseed

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is used in traditional medicine in management of many conditions including bacterial infections. Usually, many people use traditional medicinal plants in combination with many antibiotics for treatment of many bacterial infections, this may lead to herbal- drug interactions, this herbal- drug interactions may cause a decrease or an increase of antibiotic action, as well as it may be no herbal- drug interactions, so our study was held to test possible interactions between Z. officinale rhizomes and some selected antibiotics (amoxicillin and cefixime). The study was conducted in vitro by using well diffusion method against Staphaylococcus aureus and Eischerichia coli. The results revealed that, the ethanolic extract of Z. officinale has good anti- bacterial activity against S. aureus (mean growth inhibition zone 20.35 mm) and no activity against E. coli. The anti- bacterial activity of cefixime against S. aureas and E. coli was good with mean growth inhibition zones 34.35 mm and 40.2 mm respectively. When Z. officinale extract was combined with cefixime, the growth inhibition zones were decreased (when compared with the activity of cefixime alone) against S. aureas and E. coli (antagonistic effect), the growth inhibition zones were 29.95 mm and 35.05 mm respectively (P- value < 0.01). The mean growth inhibition zones of amoxicillin against S. aureas and E. coli were 15.15 mm and 30.05 mm respectively, while the combination of Z. officinale extract with amoxicillin gave no change on the mean growth inhibition zone against E. coli (30.05 mm), but the same combination against S. aureas showed no anti- bacterial activity which was considered as antagonistic effect (P- value < 0.01). We concluded that Z. officinale rhizomes should better be avoided in combination with anti- bacterial agents. Also we recommend that researchers should enter the field of herbal- drug interactions researches, for testing the combination effects between many medicinal plants that are used traditionally with known therapeutic agents used in treatment of various diseases.

Keywords: Zingiber officinale, amoxicillin, cefixime, Staphylococcus aureas, Eischerichia coli, herbal- drug interactions.