EVALUATION OF THE ANTIBACTERIAL POTENTIAL OF THYMUS PULEGIOIDES EXTRACTS.

Increasing resistance of microorganisms to conventional drugs has required scientists to discover new sources of biocides with a broad spectrum of action. Since ancient times, plants and plant derivatives such as essential oils have been used in traditional medicine. In the present study, the ethanolic extracts of the aerial parts (leaves and stem) of Thymus pulegioides were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against some pathogenic bacteria, Gram+ bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, respectively Gram-bacteria Escherichia coli. The antibacterial potential was tested by the bacterial cell viability test, the spectrophotometric method. The results of the performed tests indicate a different antibacterial effect depending on the type of vegetative organ from which the extract was made, the concentration tested and the bacterial strain studied. A decrease in the antibacterial potential of the extracts is identified as the concentration decreases, the effect exerted being bacteriolytic or bacteriostatic, at some concentrations the values recorded being almost non-existent. The antibacterial potential of Thymus pulegioides extracts were more evident in Gram+ bacteria compared to Gram-bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]