NATURAL ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF LAWSONIA INERMIS AND INDIGO TINCTORIA AGAINST CLINICALLY ISOLATED MICROORGANISMS
Objective: The present study aimed at evaluating the natural antimicrobial activity of Lawsonia inermis (L. inermis) and Indigofera tinctoria (I. tinctoria) against a reference and pathogenic clinically isolated strains compare with some antibiotics.Methods: The antimicrobial activity of Lawsonia inermis (red henna) and Indigo tinctoria (black henna) was evaluated against clinically isolated strains from urinary tract and wounds infected patients. The six tested strains namely were Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus fecalis, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by agar diffusion method and microplate dilution for measuring the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). An American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) of bacteria was used as a control for confirming the type of the isolated bacteria.Results: Both red and black henna showed variable antimicrobial activity against tested bacteria and C. albicans. Alcoholic and oily extracts were more effective than water. Staphylococcus epidermis was significantly affected with water extract of black henna (20±1.1) and red henna (11±0.5). Nigella sativa oil extract with black henna had showed significant synergism effects against some microorganisms as Enterococcus fecalis (40±1.5), P. aeruginosa (15±0.9) and Candida albicans (18±0.6).Conclusion: Black and red henna had antibacterial and antifungal activities. They exhibited synergistic effects when mixed with black seed oil.