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Arnaldoa
Print version ISSN 1815-8242On-line version ISSN 2413-3299
Abstract
GODOY, Gala et al. Antimicrobial potential of Croton gossypiifolius (Euphorbiaceae) latex on species associated with human infections. Arnaldoa [online]. 2020, vol.27, n.1, pp.247-255. ISSN 1815-8242. http://dx.doi.org/10.22497/arnaldoa.271.27115.
The empirical use of plants for medicinal purposes is an ancient practice. The Croton genus specifically is frequently utilized by indigenous communities in South America to treat a variety of infections. In this work, the potency of the latex coming from the Croton gossypiifolius (Euphorbiaceae) tree as antimicrobial agent was studied. Also known as "Dragon’s blood", it was tested over microorganisms associated to infections in humans. The bacteria utilized were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomona aeruginosa and the fungi Aspergillus niger. The "Dragon’s blood" was collected directly from the cortex of the trees by making V shaped cuts. It was then added to nutritious agar and saburoud plates, where the bacteria and fungi were grown separately for the optimum time and temperature of each species. An inhibition of the growth of S. aureus was observed. To quantify this inhibitory effect, S. aureus was cultivated in a Luria Bertani liquid medium adding different latex concentrations (0.6%, 1.25%, 1.9%, 2.5%, 3.3%) for 6 hours on each concentration. The growth was measured in Petri plates as colony-forming units per ml (CFU/ ml). A dose dependent effect was observed. For 0.6% the mean growth was 900 CFU/ml, and the growth value decreased as the latex concentration increased until the smallest value of 10 CFU/ ml was observed when the concentration was 3.0%. The latex did not cause any inhibition in the growth of the bacteria E. coli, K. pneumoniae y P. aeruginosa, nor the fungi A. niger but it did inhibit the growth of S. aureus and the effect was dose dependent
Keywords : Croton gossypiifolius; dragon’s blood; Staphylococcus aureus; latex; natural antimicrobial.