Background: Lawsonia inermis (L. inermis) is perennial plant commonly called henna. It is frequently cultivated in Sudan. Beside its uses cosmetics for staining hands and as hairs dyes‚ it was reported to be useful in jaundice, enlargement of spleen, calculus affliction and skin disease. Method: This descriptive study was done during the period from December 2014 to April 2015 in order to determine the invitro antimicrobial activity of L. inermis (henna) leaves extract against standard and clinical isolates from wound swabs, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Proteus species, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These organisms were collected from different hospitals in Khartoum State including: Soba University Hospital, Military Teaching Hospital, and Laboratory Management Center. The in vitro antimicrobial susceptibly testing was performed using cup plate diffusion method. The activity of L. inermis Linn leaves extract was controlled with four reference antibiotics including gentamicin, oxacillin, ciprofloxacin, and impinim. Results: When aqueous extract of L. inermis Linn examined against standard bacteria and clinical isolates result showed that all standard bacteria were inhibited at 100%, 50%, and 25% concentration. All clinical isolates were successfully inhibited at 100%, 50%, 25%, and 12.5%. In contrary, the activity of methanolic extract of L. inermis Linn against standard bacteria showed that all standard bacteria were inhibited at 100%, 50% concentration, However, the clinical isolates showed an inhibition rate various depending on the concentration of methanolic extract of L. inermis Linn with S. aureus being most sensitive isolate. Conclusion: We conclude that aqueous and methanolic extract of henna exhibited antimicrobial activity against all types of tested organisms both clinical and standard isolates. But the aqueous extract shows superior inhibition ability than the methanolic.
In vitro evaluation of antimicrobial activity of methanolic extract from selected species of Cephalopods on clinical isolates
