Introduction. The plants have been used for many thousands of years in medicine ancient Roma and Egypt. Among usage a herb was calamus. It was importation to Poland probably in XIII age. Calamus to grown on lowlands, on pond and lakes shares. Acorus calamus belongs to the family Araceae. The herb having rhizome with many nodes, elongated leaves with intensive smelling. In etheric oil are components as: α- and β-azarone, cyperenone, cyperole, acorine, acorytine, caryophylene, isoasarone, saflor, eugenol, camphor, geranyl acetate, cyperdone, spathulenol, borneol, linalool and linolenic acid. The oil has various pharmacological and antimicrobial activities. Aim. The goal of the investigation was to test activity calamus oil against anaerobic bacteria. Material and methods. The anaerobic bacteria were isolated from oral cavity and upper respiratory tract. The strains of following genera were tested: Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Tannerella, Fusobacterium, Finegoldia, Parvimonas, Peptostreptococcus, Actinomyces, Bifidobacterium, Propionibacterium. The data volume 9 reference strains. The concentration the calamus oil (Semifarm) were: 2.0, 1.0, 0.5, 0.25, 0.12 and 0.06 mg/ml. The investigations was carried out using plate dilution technique method in Brucella agar supplemented with 5% defibrynated sheep blood, menadione and hemin. Inoculum containing 106 CFU per 1 ml was seeded with Steers replicator upon the agar with oil or without the oil (strains growth control). The agar plates was incubated in anaerobic condition in anaerobic jar in mixed of gases (10% C02 , 10% H2 i 80% N2) with palladium catalyst and anaerobiosis indicator, in 37°C for 48 hrs. The MIC was recorded by reading the lowest concentration the inhibited growth of anaerobic bacteria. Results. The results showed, that the most susceptible from genus of Bacteroides were the rods of Bacteroides uniformis (MIC ≤ 0.06-0.25 mg/ml). The strain Bacteroides ureolyticus and Bacteroides vulgatus were susceptible to 0.5 mg/ml, and Bacteroides fragilis to ≥ 20.0 mg/ml. The growth rods from genus Porphyromonas was inhibited by concentrations ≤ 0.06-0.25 mg/ml. The calamus oil was active against Gram-positive rods in range 0.25-0.5 mg/ml. The growth of Actinomyces, Bifidobacterium and Propionibacterium was inhibited by oil concentration 0.25-0.5 mg/ml. The Gram-positive cocci was susceptible to concentrations with ranges from ≤ 0.06 to 1.0 mg/ml. The most susceptible from the cocci was the strains Parvimonas micra (MIC < 0.06 mg/ml). The results other authors to confirm that Gram-positive rods are more susceptible to calamus oil than Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria. Conclusions. The calamus oil was high activity towards tested anaerobic bacteria. The most susceptible among Gram-negative rods was Bacteroides ureolyticus, Porphyromonas asaccharolytica and Porphyromonas levii. Gram-positive cocci were more susceptible on calamus oil than Gram-positive rods. The tested oil demonstrated the more activity towards Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative anaerobic rods.
Fucoxanthin—An Antibacterial Carotenoid
