Antimicrobial Activities of Cynara scolymus L. Leaf, Head, and Stem Extracts

ABSTRACT: Successive chloroform, ethanol, and ethyl acetate partitions of extracts from Cynara scolymus L. leaf, head, and stem were tested for their antimicrobial activity against 15 microbial species, including 7 foodborne bacterial pathogens, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Micrococcus luteus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 4 yeasts, Candida albicans, Candida lusitaniae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, and 4 molds, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium oxalicum, Mucor mucedo, and Cladosporium cucumerinum using the disk diffusion assay technique. The leaf extract was found to be most effective against all of the tested organisms, followed by the head and stem extracts, and the ethanol fraction showed the most significant antimicrobial activity against all of the tests among 3 soluble fractions of extract, followed by the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of extracts determined by the agar and broth dilution method ranged from 1.25 to 10.0 mg/mL. The MIC of ethanol fraction of leaf extracts was the lowest by comparison with the other 2 extracts. The MIC for fungi was at or below 2.5 mg/mL and for bacteria was at or above 2.5 mg/mL.