Background:
In recent years, microbial multidrug resistance to antimicrobial agents, namely antibiotics, has been constantly and still
evolving, despite the diversity known for these agents. However, the undesirable effects they cause and sometimes the relatively expensive
treatment cost, adaptation and new resistance mechanisms that emerged and spread globally, led many people to use bioactive compounds in the
form of plant extracts known by their antimicrobial properties for treatment. The world health organization statistics estimate that medicinal
plants are the basic drug for two-thirds of the world's population. Recent studies have focused on finding plants around the world to the appropriate and effective extract as antimicrobial drugs. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is an annual herb widely consumed worldwide as
food, feed additive, and in herbal medicine as traditional remedies. On this, the present work aimed to study the phytoconstituents and in vitro
antimicrobial activity of fenugreek seeds cultivated in Taghit region (Southwest of Algeria) against some uropathogenic bacterial strains.
Methods:
Qualitative triphytochemical screening was carried out according to a standard protocol, based on staining and/or precipitation
reactions, while the antibacterial test of two aqueous extracts and flavonoid as selective extracts (n-butanolic and ethyl acetate fractions),
was evaluated by agar well diffusion method against a selection of Gram-positive and Gram-negative uropathogenic bacteria.
Results:
The obtained results showed a composition rich in phytoconstituents especially in polyphenol, from where probably comes the antibacterial effect that was switched from low to strong effect on the majority of the tested strains with a stronger action attributed to flavonoid extracts
compared to aqueous extracts that were moderate. These results are linked not only to the extracts’ nature but also to the antibiotic resistance
testing results for the isolated and reference bacterial strains where the isolated uropathogenic strains were multidrug-resistant, and this against
more than three classes of antibiotics, mainly: aminopenicillins, cephalosporins, 1st generation quinolones and also many others for Escherichia
coli, Klebsiella spp, and P. aeruginosa species while most Staphylococcus sp strains were resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, and cotrimoxazole.
However, flavonoids have shown a greater effect compared to the antimicrobial activity of gentamicin where Gram-positive uropathogenic isolates were more susceptible, with an activity index (AI) of 1 to 2,5 for S. aureus strains at concentrations of 27 to 223mg/mL. However, Gramnegative reference bacterial strains showed an activity index of 1 to 1,21 for E. coli, Citrobacter freundii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains.
Conclusion:
The antibacterial effect depends on the tested extract, its concentration, and the tested bacterial strain. The results obtained in
this study suggest that flavonoids and aqueous extracts of Trigonella foenum L seeds revealed an important scope for developing a wide
range of antibacterial herbal formulation, which are safe and economical.
