In vitro Antibacterial Activity of Fenugreek Seeds’ Phytoconstituents From Taghit Region (Southwest of Algeria) Against the Bacterial Strains Responsible for UTI
Authors: Benyagoub Elhassan , Nabbou Nouria , Aguid Abdallah , Alkhudhairy Miaad K. , Bendada Farah 
Published: July 2020

Background:

n recent years, multidrug resistance to antimicrobial agents, including antibiotics, has constantly been evolving, despite the diversity of these agents. However, such factors as the undesirable side-effects they cause, and sometimes the relatively expensive treatment costs, adaptation and new resistance mechanisms of microorganisms that emerged and spread globally, led many people to use bioactive compounds for treatment in the form of plant extracts known for their antimicrobial properties. The world health organization statistics estimate that medicinal plants, as basic drugs, are used by two-thirds of the world's population. Recent studies have focused on finding plants around the world with the appropriate and effective extract to be used as antimicrobial drugs. Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is an annual herb that is widely consumed globally as food, feed additive, and in herbal medicines as traditional remedies. Taking this into account, 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 tri phytochemical 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 carried out 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 does probably comes the antibacterial effect that was ranging switched from low to strong effect on the majority of the tested strains with a stronger action attributed to flavonoid extracts compared to moderate effect of aqueous extracts. These results are linked not only to the extracts’ nature but also to the antibiotic resistance that was observed in the testing results for the isolated and reference bacterial strains where the isolated uropathogenic strains were multidrug- resistant against more than three classes of antibiotics, mainly: aminopenicillins, cephalosporins, 1st generation quinolones and also many others, such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, and P. aeruginosa species while most Staphylococcus sp strains were resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, and cotrimoxazole.

Conclusion:

However, flavonoids showed 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.